The Journey Continues
by son-goku5
Summary: Sequel to A Tiger's Journey. Tigress has found inner peace and happiness but a new crisis threatens to turn all she achieved to dust. Chapter 20 is up and story is now complete. Read and Review :)
1. Chapter 1

**Well, I told you I'd make a sequel ;) While it will deal with our favorite couple, I will also use my hopefully acceptable writing skills to try to involve a new kind of villain. Can't have our masters without enemies, can't we ^^**

 **Jamesdude (if you read this): I can't write a Zootopia fanfic because I simply never watched that movie. And I don't really feel the desire to... KFP is more or less the only animated movie (series) that I watched in recent years.**

 **Enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: Still don't own it.**

* * *

Shifu balanced on his staff, meditating and trying to achieve inner peace while at the same time watching his daughter and her... boyfriend. Almost a year had passed since they had gotten together and he still wasn't completely used to the fact that the ferocious Master Tigress had a significant other.

Currently, the two were meditating as well, in the specific way that had become unique to them. Both were sitting in the lotus position, their arms extended and paws connected, a glow emanating from and combining around them. Shifu sighed quietly at the sight. He had tried a few times to do the same with Tigress in an attempt to form a deeper relationship with her but all their combined efforts had met with dismal failure.

He realized that while he loved his daughter, it wasn't the kind of love that allowed that form of connection. He let his Chi sight roam and his eyes went wide at the image of their Chi combining between them. He noticed the Heroes Chi from Po mixing with Tigress' regular Chi, if such a word was possible to be used as description of the energy inside every living being.

He pondered the implications of what he was seeing. It looked as if the Heroes Chi was no longer only inside Po but was partially moving into Tigress as well. He remembered his conversation with Oogway when Po had taken him to the spirit realm and how the old turtle had told him about how Tigress and Po had connected together into an unbreakable bond that even he had not seen before.

Another thing Shifu could barely fathom was the fact that bis daughter was mating on a regular basis. Especially since they were doing it almost every evening. At least they tried to be as quiet as possible. His peace of mind was really tested in those weeks when Tigress was in heat because his daughter became rather insatiable, much to Shifu's chagrin.

 _"Po, what are you doing?" Shifu asked the panda as he was walking to take a nice, relaxing bath at the hot springs, seeing the Dragon Warrior crawl away from that area._

" _Help me, master." Po begged._

" _What happened?" Shifu demanded to know, getting into an alert stance to defend against possible attackers._

" _It's Master Tig..."_

" _Po, where are you?" a female voice came from behind him, causing Shifu to look down and away in embarrassment._

" _Please, master..." Po started but was interrupted by his mate grabbing his left foot._

" _There you are." a very naked Tigress grinned as she started to pull him back towards the hot springs and what had pretty much become their private hut. "We're not done yet."_

" _Tigress, I'm begging you."_

" _We have only been at it for a few hours, stop whining." Tigress huffed while the panda tried to dig his short claws into the ground._

" _Please master, you have to help me." Po begged again. "It's your fault too, you made me run up the stairs every day for months."_

" _Sorry, Po, I'm not involving myself in this." Shifu groaned and turned around, trying not to imagine what his daughter has already done and would still do to and with the panda, given her condition. As for himself, he would take his bath in the pool in the dragon grotto._

"Master!" the voice of his daughters snapped him out of his memory.

"Yes, what?" Shifu quickly covered up his momentary lapse.

"We're done, are you coming down with us?"

"No, I'll stay up here for a while more." Shifu said, smiling at her, hoping that he could now find his inner peace without them here, since he couldn't stop thinking about those two every time they were up here with him.

As much as it grated him, as it would any father, that his daughter was grown up, at least the two had kept their promise of limiting their displays of affection to privacy. According to the reports of Crane, they were nothing but professional during missions, giving no indication that they were mates other than smiles that any outsider who didn't know about them could never realize for what they actually meant.

Even in town they behaved, the only indication they gave there was always sitting next to each other at the restaurant of Po's father. The only other person outside the palace who knew was Mister Ping and the old goose had kept his promise of keeping it secret, knowing that it could have serious implications for his son if it became known.

Son. Shifu was well aware that Po could actually become his son-in-law even though none of them had showed any notion of actually becoming husband and wife. He was unsure about how he felt. On the one hand, he would be happy for his daughter but on the other hand, it was Po. The clumsy panda who became Dragon Warrior, the one person in all of China that every bad guy wanted to see dead.

At least he was more serious now. While he still managed to rile him up with his mannerisms, he took more things seriously, ever since he came back from tiger country. Possibly the fact that he had to kill and actually died had a sobering effect on him, showing that goofing off wasn't a good way to live your life, especially if you were the Dragon Warrior. With another sigh, Shifu tired once again to find his center and achieve inner peace.

"Do you think Shifu was somehow off?" Po asked as they walked down the path to the palace, paws connected.

"Yeah." Tigress nodded. "He seems to have a lot on his mind."

"Can't figure out what it might be." Po shrugged. "I mean, the valley is astoundingly save right now. Barely any thieves come here anymore and all those wanna-be villains like Temutai or the others are pretty quiet."

"Given that we usually kick their asses when they show up, it's not so far fetched that they want to stay away." Tigress smiled.

"Do you think he's sick?" Po suggested.

"I hope not."

"Same here." Po shrugged. "The last thing I can take now is the mantle of Grandmaster."

"Do you think you would become Grandmaster of the Jade Palace should Shifu pass away?" Tigress wondered, no accusation in her question.

"He already made me the teacher, even though, in my opinion, every single one of you would be better suited since you are doing this a lot longer. You especially, my dear, would be a great teacher."

"You really think so?" Tigress asked with a smile.

"Yeah, you're very bossy." Po grinned. "You like to tell people what to do."

"Shut up." he moped.

"See what I mean?" he laughed. "It's really bad in certain days of the month."

"You can easily avoid my ire if you just do what I say." Tigress poked out her tongue.

"You're playful today." Po poked her side.

"I know." Tigress smiled. "But if you tell that to anyone, I will hurt you."

"I know." Po winced, remembering one instance when he had tickled Tigress in Viper's presence, causing his girlfriend to giggle which had led to her beating the living crap out of him during sparring.

"Then act like you do."

"I'll make dinner." Po announced, letting go of her paw and walking into the kitchen.

Tigress followed him and watched him work, seeing him in his element as he moved to and fro, making noodles and cutting vegetables into slices. As he cooked, the other masters joined them and Tigress was surprised to see Viper's tail wrapped gently around Crane's body, making her smile and determined to question her sister like Viper had questioned her.

Mantis and Monkey were joking around as usual, making fun of the other two masters who couldn't care less. Tigress felt a moment of sadness for the two, since their relationship would never be as carnal as hers was with Po, them being two races who didn't mate directly but laid eggs. On the other hand, their relationship was only about their emotions and they expressed them in very sweet gestures.

"Po, amazing as always." Mantis commented the soup after Po had placed the bowls on the table.

"Yeah, I agree." Monkey nodded.

The masters ate their dinner while doing idle chit chat. After a few minutes, Shifu joined them, something that had increased in frequency ever since Po and Tigress became a couple.

"Master, did one of the palace staff call in sick?" Mantis asked Shifu.

"Not that I know of, why do you ask?" Shifu returned.

"Well, I know every single one of them and one has been missing for several days now."

"You would have to ask Zheng, he's responsible for them." Shifu shrugged. "Maybe one of them wanted to visit relatives for the winter festival."

"Alright, possible." Mantis shrugged. "It's just strange, since all of them usually celebrated here all these years."

"There aren't nefarious reasons in everything." Shifu counseled.

"Master, will you leave for another palace during the winter festival again?" Viper asked.

"No, this year I will also stay here. This year, the festival is hosted by Master Frog of the Ranae Palace." Shifu replied.

"And you're not going because..." Po prompted.

"I... uh... really don't like Master Frog."

"And here I thought a Kung Fu Master was above petty emotions." Po grinned.

"I am. But Master Frog... Po, compared to him, your table manners are impeccable and suited for the emperor's table."

"Are you saying that the way I eat is..."

"Yes." Shifu nodded.

"I resent that." Po moped and slurped down the rest of his soup to the laughter of the other masters.

"Will your father be hosting the feast again?" Monkey asked Po.

"Of course." Po nodded. "And I will help him as usual. And you are invited as usual."

"Thank you Po, we will attend of course." Crane nodded.

"Only if I get a seat close to a heat source." Viper smiled.

"One seat closest to the kitchen window it is." Po chuckled.

"Well, if you excuse me now, I will head back to my meditations." Shifu announced, standing up from his chair.

"Master, might I have a word?" Tigress asked, the use of the word master telling him that it was official Kung Fu business.

"Of course." Shifu nodded. "Walk with me."

The two exited of the kitchen, neither talking as they walked down the hallway towards the hall of heroes. Shifu wondered what his daughter needed to talk to him about that she couldn't mention in front of the other masters but he decided not to push her. After a few minutes of collecting her thoughts, Tigress finally spoke up.

"Master, do you plan on stepping down as Grandmaster?"

"Why do you ask?" Shifu returned.

"Are you planning on making Po your successor?"

"Ah, so that's what this is about." Shifu smiled.

"Are you?"

"Daughter, I have no intention of steeping down as Grandmaster. And when it comes to choosing a successor, you do have to admit that Po has a lot of the qualifications needed to be Grandmaster. What he lacks is seriousness, although he already has gained a lot ever since he defeated Kai."

"Okay." Tigress nodded.

"Master Tigress, wouldn't you be happy for Po if he became my successor?"

"Of course I would. I love him."

"Then why are you asking me this?"

"Because I'm afraid that Po being both Grandmaster and Dragon Warrior could mean the death of our relationship. He is already scrutinized by the public to some degree but as a Grandmaster, that could double."

"So far, the public has left us comparatively alone. Sure, he's always greeted warmly in the village but that's just who he is. The people like him for his compassion." Shifu said. "You shouldn't worry. Enjoy your time with him. Don't waste it by thinking about what could go wrong, that way you will both be miserable."

"Thanks Master." Tigress smiled and turned around to get back to the kitchen.

When she arrived, she found it empty except for Po, who was busy cleaning the bowls and the stove, the other masters having already retreated to their rooms to meditate. Seeing him move around, she smiled to herself and after checking that no palace servant was close by, she grabbed under her robe and removed the wraps that covered her lady parts before stepping into the kitchen.

"Po." she hummed, getting his attention.

"Oh, hey Ti, what's up?" he asked after turning around.

"Well, I was thinking that we should... take a bath." she grinned, slowly and enticingly swinging the wraps around her paws.

"Lets go." he breathed and grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulder and running towards the hot springs, a tiger's laugh reverberating through the evening air.

* * *

"And it seems that tigers are crossing the border into China." the general told his lord.

"How many?" the emperor asked.

"Unknown. The information we have is weeks old. We have dispatched scouts into the region with scrying crystals so we can get accurate information."

"Very well." the emperor nodded. "You are dismissed."

"Yes, my lord." the general bowed and left the throne room.

"My lord." the chancellor said to his emperor, who sat on his throne, looking ahead at all those flunkies who tried to get his attention or, in some cases, were trying to avoid it.

"What is it." the red crane demanded to know.

"One of our informants from the Valley of Peace is back with an important message regarding the Dragon Warrior." the chancellor, a pangolin, told him.

"Clear the room!" the emperor commanded and the other animals leaped to obey, almost climbing over each other to be the first out as if that would curry favor with the emperor. "Sycophants." the crane sighed after the room had cleared of everyone but his personal guard and the chancellor.

"My lord?" the chancellor asked.

"Nothing." the emperor waved him off. "What has the Dragon Warrior done that warrants one of our informants to come here?"

"Apparently, he left for weeks on a secret mission and upon his return, he seems to have started a romantic relationship with another master, which violates the old rule that the Dragon Warrior needs to stay unattached."

"Call him in."

"Bring in the informant." the chancellor told the guards at the door who opened it and revealed a nondescript goose, that waddled into the throne room.

"My lord emperor." the goose bowed.

"You claim that the Dragon Warrior violated the ancient rules of Kung Fu?"

"Yes." the goose nodded vigorously. "The Dragon Warrior has begun a relationship with Master Tigress, one of his fellow masters at the Jade Palace."

"Leave." the emperor commanded again, pondering what he learned as the goose stepped backwards out of the throne room, bowing all the way.

"Should I prepare a message to the Jade Palace for you to sign with your seal?" the pangolin asked his lord.

"Are you going to create another evil Dragon Warrior, my love?" a female red crane asked as she stepped into the room through a side door.

"My empress." the pangolin bowed deep.

"Leave us." the emperor commanded his chancellor who quickly got out of the throne room. "What do you mean, create another evil Dragon Warrior?"

"The Dragon Warrior has defended China from serious threats on several occasions. Remember Lord Shen or the spirit warrior Kai? The demon Ke-Pa? Not to mention thwarting the plans of several villains on a more local level."

"My love..."

"And now you are attempting to force apart two people who might be in love. How do you think that will go over with both of them? Doesn't even the Dragon Warrior deserve happiness in his life?"

"The Dragon Warrior is a symbol for China." the emperor argued.

"The Dragon Warrior is a living being, with emotions, not a statue." his wife countered.

"There are rules in place."

"Do you even know who made those rules in the first place?" the empress asked, receiving no answer. "And you also know that you could change those rules, you're the emperor."

"I can't simply make a decision like that without more information."

"Then might I suggest getting them?"

"What are you suggesting?" the crane asked his wife.

"We could go to the Valley of Peace under the pretense of celebrating the upcoming winter festival with the Dragon Warrior." the empress replied.

"We would need to prepare a message for the people why I won't celebrate it here this year."

"I can do that."

"CHANCELLOR!" the crane shouted after a few seconds of though, causing the pangolin to hurry back into the throne room.

"Yes, my lord?"

"Prepare the royal transport." the emperor commanded, getting up from his throne.

"I will obey, my lord." the pangolin bowed. "Might I ask, where are we going?"

"To the Jade Palace." the emperor replied. "It is time that I met the Dragon Warrior in person."

* * *

"Bring the surviving breeders." a squeaky voice commanded and his underlings moved to follow the order.

Two large forms were dragged forward, one with a limp caused by an arrow wound in her left thigh, bags over their heads to blind them as the smaller figures pushed and prodded them. Two quick yanks removed the blindfolds, the two females squinting their eyes in the sudden firelight until they had gotten used to it. At the sight of their captors, both growled, their innate hatred for them coming to the fore.

"Rats." Lyanna growled.

"Are you alright?" Tigara asked her companion.

"As well as I can be." Lyanna winced in reply, blood still seeping out of her thigh wound, before one of their guards slapped them over the head to shut them up.

"Well well, you two are fine specimens." the supposed leader giggled in a high-pitched and somewhat maniacal voice. "You're males will surely do everything to keep you alive."

"You don't know our males." Lyanna scoffed.

"I didn't allow you to speak!" the leader rat shrieked and whacked Lyanna on the nose with his scepter, causing the larger tiger to growl and strain against her chains.

"You will pay for that." Lyanna growled.

"What do you want?" Tigara asked.

"Information. How many of your tribes are there? How many males are soldiers?"

"Hundreds of tribes. And soldiers numbering in the hundreds of thousands." Lyanna spat back, trying to dissuade the rat from continuing their apparent plan of conquest.

"Impressive." the rat nodded but waved them off. "I may delay us for a while but ultimately, my people will prevail as they usual do."

"Why are you doing this?" Tigara asked.

"Because my people need space to live."

"Then why fight us? In our country, numerous species live side by side. You can live there too without having to kill anyone." Lyanna argued.

"That won't work." the rat shook its head.

"Why not?"

"You might be able to live in peace with each other but we really don't coexist well with others." the rat sighed and turned to his men. "Take them to the cells!"

"There's one thing you should also know about tigers." Lyanna growled.

"And that is what?" the rat leader asked.

"Our claws are pretty good lock picks." Lyanna grinned and suddenly her chains fell to the floor.

She grabbed a sword from a nearby guard and used the hilt to accurately smash Tigara's left shackle open before using it to quickly kill two more guards. Tigara used the chain still connected to her right shackle like a morning star, bashing the heads of several rats around them while trying to find another hard object to break the other shackle.

Unfortunately, her attempt was slowly but surely separating her from her compatriot, who was fighting hard and disemboweling any rat that came close to her. Yet Tigara saw that Lyanna was faltering, the wound in her thigh slowing her down while the accumulated blood loss weakened her more and more.

Tigara swung her right arm at a rat who had the foresight to duck. Her arm hit the stone wall, the impact reverberating through her body but on the plus side, the remaining shackle finally broke free. Using her claws, she slit the throat of another attacker and grabbed his weapon, a short sword with a spiked tip, very useful for hacking.

She used it as it was intended, hammering it into skulls and using the claws on her left paw to slit open throats and other parts of bodies. The smell of blood and entrails permeated the air in the cave, making Tigara's hairs stand up as her aggression rose higher from the scent of her enemy's blood. She turned her head and saw Lyanna fighting with her back to the wall, four rats against her and more waiting to join the fray.

"Lyanna!" Tigara shouted while she tried to battle her way to her sister in arms.

"Run, Tigara!" the larger tiger shouted back as she skewered another rat with the spear. "Warn China!"

"I won't leave you!"

"Run!" Lyanna shouted again before her voice turned into a scream as the leftmost of her attackers rammed a spear through her shoulder.

Tigara growled in frustration and sorrow as she turned around and started running, trying to shut out the sound of her friend fighting and dying. Even with her last breath, Lyanna killed another of her attackers, sinking her teeth into the rat's throat and not letting go until the life had left her. But her desperate last stand gave her sister in arms the time she needed to flee the complex of underground chambers she was in.

Tigara burst into the open, surprising the rats that were milling around with her sudden appearance. She didn't give them any time to think and ran past them, all the way to the cliff face she had seen earlier. Using her innate ability to climb steep angles, she practically jumped up, from stone to stone, using hanging roots as leverage.

When she reached the top, she turned around to look at the camp she had just fled, causing her eyes to go wide in both horror and wonder. As far as she could see, rats were going to and fro, some trying to climb up after her while others shot arrows her way, the height making them fall short and even hitting some of the climbing rats, knocking them off the cliff face. It looked like hundreds of thousands, or even millions of rats were down there, given that there was also a vast underground complex below the surface.

This wasn't just an army of conquest. This was a migration.

Tigara turned again and ran. She ran towards the only place she knew people would listen to her. And even though the trip would take at least a week at high speed with minimal rest, she knew that she had to make it.

And so she ran. To the only place she knew where someone would trust her. Towards the Jade Palace.

* * *

 **Hope you liked the opener. I'm kind of afraid that I bit off more than I could chew. ^^**

 **Review please :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Even though I hadn't planned on writing this yet, being busy with the next chapter of one of my other stories, I couldn't resist because: Happy birthday, Left for Red :) My gift to you, a new chapter. Hope you like it ^^**

 **Enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: Still don't own it.**

* * *

Tigress leaned back into her mate's body, his large paw over her stomach, caressing it gently. Her tail swung lazily, showing her happiness while she purred quietly, unable and uncaring of the fact that someone who joined them could hear her. But she was way too happy to be in the arms of Po, sitting here on the roof of the great hall, looking over the courtyard and down the thousand steps, their relationship as strong as ever.

Po, in his prerogative as their teacher, had instituted a day off every week, giving the masters time to indulge in their hobbies and therefore unwinding from the strain of keeping their abilities at the peak all the time even though the valley had not been bothered by bandits or other bad people for months. The winter festival would soon be on them and Tigress looked forward to Mister Ping's food.

"Po?" she got his attention.

"Hm?"

"We have been together for a year now, right?"

"Er... yes, give or take." he nodded.

"Have you ever thought about... you know... us." she stammered, the words easier being said when it was only inside her head.

"I think about us a lot." he grinned a goofy grin.

"No, I mean... uh... about us even closer."

"Closer than now?" he wondered. "I don't really understand."

"Po, I want..."

"Hey look, what's going on down there?" he interrupted her, pointing towards the steps where a long procession of people came up.

"I don't know but quite a few of them have weapons by the looks of it." she nodded, having sharper eyes than him. "We have to tell Master Shifu."

While Tigress jumped off the roof, Po looked again and saw a carriage being hefted by eight strong boars, a large symbol on its side. He jumped down as well and together, they and ran into the great hall, where Shifu was perched on his staff, meditating in front of the pool of sacred tears.

"Master Shifu! Master Shifu!" Po shouted, causing the red panda to visibly deflate.

"Yes Po, what is it." Shifu sighed, climbing off of his staff.

"There's a cavalcade coming up the stairs."

"Can you be a bit more specific." Shifu sighed. "How many villagers are coming up?"

"They aren't villagers." Tigress said. "They are rhinos and wolves, all armed. And one was a pangolin."

"Really?" Shifu wondered.

"Yeah and they were carrying a red carriage with a symbol on the side." Po added.

"What symbol?" Shifu asked, getting a queasy feeling at the implications.

"A large dragon in the middle with a sun on its upper right and a moon on the upper left and what looked like a band of three stars below it." Po described, causing Shifu to panic.

"That's the emperor's personal carriage." Shifu yelled, causing Tigress to start running to clean up whatever dirt might be found in the hall. "The emperor is here."

"What emperor?" Po asked.

"What do you mean, what emperor?" Tigress growled. "THE emperor. Ruler of China."

"What?" Po shouted. "The ruler of China is coming up our steps? Why wasn't he announced."

"We can inquire about that later." Shifu yelled back, running back and forth, grabbing a startled goose. "ZHENG! Get the masters into the courtyard, quickly. And make sure the palace is cleaned. Po and Tigress! Make sure there are no weapons lying around in the courtyard."

"Don't worry, the courtyard is clean." Po told him and hurried out into the courtyard where the other members of the Furious Five were taking their places.

They waited for another five minutes, Shifu standing in front of the steps while the masters stood ninety degrees from him, three on each side, forming a rough horseshoe shape. Finally, the first guards emerged through the arch, insanely large rhinos that made those in Chorh-Gom prison look small in comparison while the wolves were regular sized but still looked menacing.

"Damn, what an entrance." Po said excitedly.

"Panda!" Shifu scolded.

The procession fully entered the courtyard, the boars carrying the carriage setting it down a short distance from the masters, while the oversized rhinos formed a ring around them and the wolves mingled between them, some even jumping onto the surrounding roofs and walls to look for threats.

As they waited, the pangolin opened the carriage and a red crane stepped out, looking regal and used to having orders followed. He held out his wing and a female of the same species came out, looking around and her eyes falling on Po and Tigress who, along with all the other masters, bowed deep in greeting.

"My Lord Emperor and My Lady Empress." Shifu stepped forward. "Welcome to the Jade Palace. Your visit is quite... unexpected."

"That's why we didn't announce our arrival." the emperor replied.

"To what owe we the pleasure of your visit?" Shifu asked.

"We wanted to meet the Dragon Warrior and partake in the festivities of the winter solstice."

"Really? You want to celebrate with us?" Po asked. "That's so cool."

"PO!" Shifu growled.

"That's quite alright." the empress smiled. "I find it quite refreshing that someone is not so stuck up on formalities and guarding of his tongue."

"You should see me on one of my not so good days." Po grinned.

"However, there are limits as to what we allow." the empress glared at him disapprovingly.

"Sorry." Po bowed again.

"I will have my palace servants prepare the royal suite for you, your majesties." Shifu bowed.

"We have a royal suite?" Po whispered to Tigress.

"Yes, we do. Every Kung Fu Palace has one in case the emperor visits." Tigress whispered back.

"Why don't I know about that?"

"Because you would have slept in it. Or done something much worse." Shifu said as he walked by, glancing at both Po and Tigress.

The masters waited until the procession had entered the palace, the wolves staying on guard on the roofs and walls. Smaller rhinos, still large but nowhere near as massive as the Imperial Guard, placed themselves at every entrance, their eyes trained on every angle that an enemy could come from.

They followed the royal pair, their view mostly blocked by the Imperial Guard and as the cranes disappeared in the hallway that led to the royal quarters, Po made a beeline for the kitchen, the time having come to make dinner. Since they now had a lot more guests, very distinguished ones among them, he decided on his father's secret ingredient soup.

He expertly stretched the noodles as Tigress cut the vegetables. The other masters looked on in astonishment, watching their fellow striped master work in the kitchen with the same ease as the panda, who had basically grown up in one. The ingredients flew into the pot, Po's large frame hiding it from view as he added the secret ingredient, which in truth was nothing more than air while he made it look as if it was some form of spice.

"I would ask you to vacate the kitchen please." a nasal but cultivated voice startled them.

"And who are you?" Po asked the pug who came in.

"I'm Huruan, the personal chef of his highness." the pug told them.

"Well, I did your job for you." Po grinned. "I made an extra large pot of my father's secret ingredient soup."

"The royal couple does not eat anything that is made by someone other than me." Huruan stated resolutely.

"Why not try it before you dismiss it?"

"The rules are in place, even if I..." the pug began but Po simply shoved a spoonful of his soup into the dog's mouth. "Um... oi, that's tasty."

"I told you." Po grinned. "Why not have the emperor try it too? Hey, by the way, what are their names?"

"The emperor and empress surrender their names upon coronation." Huruan told them. "Names have power. Not having other know your name is an advantage."

"Alright." Po shrugged.

Po put the giant pot and a dozen bowls and chopsticks on a rolling tray and pushed it into the great hall, where servants had put up several tables with the best tablecloths the palace had to offer. Po put bowls in front of every seat and chopsticks next to them before he was shooed away by another servant of the emperor.

"Your majesties, dinner is served." the servant said to the emperor after having walked the short distance to the royal quarters.

"That was fast." the empress commented. "Huruan was just going into the kitchen, wasn't he?"

"The Dragon Warrior cooked, my lord and lady."

"Really?" the emperor asked. "And is it edible?"

"My dear, I'm sure Huruan wouldn't have let him bring it out if it wasn't." the empress smiled at her husband.

Hand in hand, the two cranes walked slowly to the great hall, being introduced by their regular caller. The empress sighed at this relatively unnecessary display of ceremony since it wasn't the royal curt but the great hall of a renowned Kung Fu palace. They waited until they had been introduced and walked to the table, sitting down in the middle with Master Shifu to their left and Constable Hu, the large pachyderm clearly out of his depth after the surprising imperial visit.

A servant filled the bowls with Po's soup while silence reigned at the table, the only sounds the shuffling of the servant's feet an the slosh of the soup going into the bowls. Po became a little impatient, his rumbling stomach causing every pair of eyes to turn into his direction, making him blush and chuckle embarrassed.

"Dragon Warrior, this soup is delicious." the emperor commented. "What is it called?"

"It's secret ingredient soup, your highness." Po replied, also eating.

"What's the secret ingredient?" the empress wanted to know.

"If I tell you that, it won't be secret anymore." Po told her. "Also, if I told anyone, my dad would kill me."

"What if I order you to tell us?" the emperor put in.

"I would respectfully decline. I'd rather have you, who will be gone after the winter festival, mad at me than my dad who's around me every day." Po replied, causing everyone in the room to breath in sharply, shocked that Po would defy an order from the emperor.

"You're a man of principles, I give you that." the red crane chuckled, causing the others in the room to relax as well.

"Dragon Warrior..." the empress started.

"Please, call me Po." Po interrupted.

"... could you whisper the ingredients into my ear?"

"That I can do." Po nodded and got up, walking to the empress who shooed Constable Hu away, so Po could lean next to her and whisper into her hear.

"Okay, and what's the secret ingredient?" the empress asked and Po whispered once more. "Really?"

"Oh yeah." Po nodded.

"Interesting." the female crane smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"You can consider yourself honored, your majesty." Crane said. "You may be the third person in the world who knows the secret ingredient."

"The fourth." Tigress smiled.

"What?" Mantis asked shocked. "Who else knows?"

"Me." Tigress told him.

"Po, you told her?" Monkey spoke up.

"No, my dad told her, since she's basically family." Po smiled at his mate. "His words, not mine."

"Interesting." the emperor mused, looking at the two masters who sat next to each other, closer than any other master except the crane and snake, who also sat rather close together.

The rest of the dinner went with idle chat, the emperor rarely saying anything except short answers to questions asked by Shifu or Hu, while the empress silently took the room in, watching the interaction between the masters and especially the Dragon Warrior and his striped mate. To her trained eye, the relationship between those two was as subtle as a fireworks display even though they did nothing to announce it to the world.

"Everybody leave us!" the emperor commanded once the dinner was done and the bowls and pot removed by the servants. "Except for Masters Shifu, Tigress and Po."

The three mentioned masters looked at each other, wondering why they had been singled out and waited as the servants and their fellow masters filed out of the room. The Imperial Guard stayed at the edges of the room, silent as statues and their unerring loyalty to the royal couple made betrayal of trust by them impossible.

"Dragon Warrior, I have a present for you." the empress opened and handed him a package, soft to the touch.

"Wow, shiny." Po commented after unpacking the oversized robe which fit him perfectly and coincidentally was very similar in cut and design to the one worn by Tigress.

"Now you can hide those patched up pants when we're out there in official business." Tigress smiled.

"Hey, in a few years, excluding any surprising expenses, I can maybe afford a real pair of pants in my size from the town's tailor." Po moped.

"Ahem." the emperor cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Sorry." Po bowed.

"We had another reason to come here. We got information that you, Dragon Warrior, have entered into a romantic relationship with your fellow Master Tigress, is that correct?"

"Uh.. yeah." Po wondered why the emperor would bother and also who might have told them. "What's it to you?"

"Are you aware that there are rules concerning the conduct of the Dragon Warrior in regards to interpersonal relationships?" the emperor asked.

"I don't see why anyone should be bothered if I choose to be in a relationship." Po shrugged. "I also have a father that I care deeply for, you want me to disown him as well?"

"What if I told you that being the Dragon Warrior forbids you to enter in any form of romantic relationship?" the emperor asked, the empress watching Po's reaction with interest.

"Then with all due respect, you can take this title and stick it where the sun doesn't shine." Po growled and stood up, the guardsmen getting ready to intercede .

"Po!" Shifu spoke up, shocked at Po's harsh words to their lord.

"I don't care, master." Po returned and took off the robe. "If I have to choose between having a fancy title and being with the one I love, I choose Tigress every time."

"Dragon Warrior, don't you think you're being unreasonable?" the emperor asked, his wife still watching with interest.

"UNREASONABLE?!" Po shouted, causing the guards to move in. "You try to dictate who I can or cannot be with and you call me unreasonable?"

"Oh my heavens." Shifu whispered surprised when he felt the heroes Chi inside Po flare up.

He let his Chi sight roam, his eyes taking on a soft glow, and watched Po as he worked himself up. Shifu fell to his knees as Po's Chi took on the form of a dragon, showing that the was truly the dragon warrior. Tigress saw what her father was doing and looked around, seeing the guards move backwards warily, feeling the strength of Po's Chi.

The emperor and empress had the same glow in their eyes as Shifu, making her aware that they were seeing the same thing as her baba and Tigress too let her Chi sight out to see what Po was doing. What she saw made her gasp in awe, the dragon reaching to the ceiling and looking down on them all while the panda himself stood in its 'stomach', his arm movements moving the dragon's paws as well.

"Amazing." the empress clapped her wings together, causing Po to calm down immediately.

"I fully agree." the emperor nodded.

"What is going on?" Po asked, the glow disappeared from his body but a remnant of it staying in his eyes.

"Dragon... Po, we knew from the beginning that we could never just take the title away from you. We know that being the Dragon Warrior is more than two words and you just proved in the most dramatic way that you are both the Dragon Warrior and that you are a man of principles and devotion." the empress told him. "And we know that you're also devoted to the defense of China."

"And... uh... what does that mean now?" Po asked.

"It means you have our blessing to pursue your relationship with Master Tigress. Also, she is very much able to take care of herself and can handle danger." the emperor smiled. "Furthermore, we have bigger problems now and the last thing we can afford now is the Dragon Warrior mad at us."

"What's going on?" Shifu asked.

"CHANCELLOR!" the crane shouted, causing the pangolin to hurry into the hall.

"Lord?"

"Bring General Lupina and the scrying crystals."

"I obey, my lord." the pangolin bowed and went back out.

* * *

"General Baribusa." a squeaky voice interrupted the tall rat as he oversaw the result of the last battle.

"Lord Rattus." Baribusa bowed his head, just enough to satisfy protocol but nowhere near enough to satisfy Rattus.

"The battle went well." Rattus squeaked in delight. "An enemy host almost a quarter the size of our own and you beat them with just a few thousand casualties."

"Twenty-two thousand are more than a few." Baribusa told his liege. "These tigers are a formidable enemy."

"No matter." Rattus waved him off. "Those casualties will soon be replaced."

Baribusa nodded and surveyed the carnage once more. Even though the casualties had been exceedingly high compared to their enemy, who had been mostly wiped out apart from a few who fled, their own females gave birth to so many rats each cycle that those casualties would soon be replaced. He looked at his lord who observed the butchery of the corpses of both rats and tigers, their meat soon used to feed their own troops.

A growl escaped his throat. That puny ratling commanded their entire people and rather than confronting their enemy at home, he had decided to search for easier pickings in the east. The first few conquest had been easy, their enemies few and surprised by the sudden onslaught but these striped animals were a different matter. That the other clan chiefs were following Rattus rankled Baribusa who had hoped to replace his own lord soon but with every victory that he won, his lords status rose.

Extremely warlike, each host they met, no matter how large, fought to the end. If they were disarmed, they used their claws and teeth to do even more damage and none gave up unless stabbed by at least ten weapons before succumbing. Without their fast replacement rate, they would have long been defeated.

Seventy percent of the entire rat military consisted of barely trained rats, just able to lift sword and shield and knew only to hack and slash. The rest, his own storm troops, were larger than their foot soldier cousins and a lot better trained and equipped. And only loyal to him. Right now, any form of rebellion would be futile but at some point, his lord would make a mistake and he, Baribusa, would be ready.

"How does the other clans fare against the tigers in the mountains?" Rattus asked.

"Runners have reported that Generals Korgana and Snikkar have made no progress so far." Baribusa replied.

"Why not?" Rattus squeaked impatiently.

"The terrain vastly favors the defenders." Baribusa informed him. "Their numbers are a lot bigger than your prisoner gave us and only two passes lead into their territory. They have fortified those passes and are able to defend against forces greatly outnumbering them."

"I don't want excuses!" Rattus shouted. "I want results. Send more clans to help Korgana and Snikkar."

"Your will be done." Baribusa bowed as Rattus turned, preventing the rat lord from seeing his general's smile.

The clans Baribusa had already sent with Korgana and Snikkar were those most loyal to Rattus. Now, Rattus had given him permission to remove even more clans loyal to him to the meat grinder that was the northern battlefields, handing more opportunity to Baribusa. Yes, when the time came, he would personally cut the head of this pesky rat.

"You see, your people are easily beaten." Rattus snickered to his captive after returning to his tent, poking a sharp stick through the bars of the cage. "And your northern tribes will soon fall too."

"As if you would see the end of the war." his prisoner scoffed.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rattus wanted to know. "Answer me!"

"Don't you find it odd that the most loyal generals you have get sent away with a lot of troops loyal to you? I wouldn't be surprised if more of those loyal to you will be gone soon to fight in the north." his prisoner said, adding just enough truth to cause doubt in the lord of the rats.

"Baribusa won't dare move against me." Rattus stated resolutely. "Now be quiet."

"If you wish." Lyanna smiled, seeing the first signs of doubt taking hold.

It would only be a matter of time before the lord and his general would fight one another and even if she was barely able to move due to her broken leg never having healed properly, she would be the one ripping him apart.

* * *

Po and the other masters stood around the pool of sacred tears, the still waters showing the images transmitted by the scrying crystal that the hawk scouts carried around their necks. On first glance, it showed an army on the march, closing in on the defenders who were finishing up gathering into battle formation, the large number of rhinos and boars forming a wall of flesh and steel.

But to Po, something was off. The image of the tigers marching was a bit blurry but to him, it didn't look like an army on the march. They were strung out over a long line, not broadly as an army about to attack would and their marching speed was too slow for a military force. The wagons as well were an indicator. Usually, resupply wagons would be far behind the main force to prevent the enemy destroying them, so why were they in the middle of them?

"General Lupina, what's the status." the emperor asked.

"Our troops are in place." the general told them. "Rhinos will form the shield wall while the boars will be responsible for flanking attacks when the opportunity presents itself. Wolfs and more boars behind the rhinos will rain down arrows on the enemy once they charge."

"So, Dragon Warrior, what do you think?" the emperor asked, the new respect for Po evident in his voice after Po had demonstrated why he was the Dragon Warrior.

"You are misreading the situation." Po stated.

"How so?"

"Those tigers are not attacking."

"Thousands of them crossed our border and bypassed Xinan. What else should we do than defend ourselves?" the one-eyed wolf asked.

"You should tell your troops to give them food and blankets." Po told them, startling almost everyone present, except Tigress and Shifu.

"What?" the wolf growled. "You want us to do what?"

"Look at them!" Po shouted, pointing his finger at the image. "These tigers aren't an army of a march. They are refugees fleeing something terrible."

"What could they be fleeing?" Shifu asked, trying to avoid having Po and Lupina getting into a shouting match.

"That's the big question." Po returned. "We know from Tigress' mother that the tiger tribes consists of a few hundred up to maybe a thousand individuals, maybe a few more in some cases. What we are seeing are dozens of tribes moving in a long line, with their belongings on their backs and in those wagons that they pull themselves."

"General Lupina, ask the scouts to count the tigers that they can see."

"Yes, my lord." the wolf replied and took the communication crystal to do what his lord commanded, using means that nobody really understood.

Uncontrolled by someone, the images in the pool switched from one scout to the other, the hawks flying over the throng of tigers and counting them with their sharp eyes the way only they could and for why they were chosen as scouts. Tigress watched her people move slowly towards the rhino and boar lines, hoping that Po was right, otherwise she might watch another slaughter of tigers.

Even though the picture was rather far away, she was able to make out a lot of wounded, the white of bandages a stark difference from orange and black fur. Knowing how many tigers were soldiers, she was shocked to see such a disheveled bunch of tigers, a large group looking as if they simply got up and left with whatever they could carry.

"The lead scout reports that it's exactly fourteen thousand, eight hundred and nineteen tigers moving in an eight li long line. They can't be sure if and how many tigers are inside the wagons." General Lupina reported.

"Master Tigress, your thoughts?" the emperor asked.

"Fourteen thousand tigers is between fourteen and thirty full tribes." Tigress replied. "Given their warlike nature, it would be an unprecedented alliance. And also, the tigers moving down there don't look like people who are eager for a fight."

"General!"

"Lord?"

"What's the supply situation for our troops?"

"The outposts and bases were fully stocked with food other amenities before this happened in expectation of exactly this." General Lupina answered. "Enough to feed our troops for three months."

"Hand me the communication crystal for the ground commander." the emperor commanded.

Everyone watched as their lord began communicating with the commanders on the ground. Po was impressed by the mystical properties of these crystals, their insides glowing in a blue hue as they were used. Given his facial expression, it seemed that the emperor had to repeat whatever order he was giving several times.

Tigress hoped that he wouldn't order an attack. While she didn't have any real relation to the tigers, having known other tigers just for over a year now, she didn't want to know that her people get killed, let alone watch it through the pool of sacred tears. Po put his paw over hers, feeling her internal struggle, giving her strength. She looked into his eyes, his eyes that have not fully stopped glowing since his outburst and drew new resolve from his touch. A touch that didn't go unnoticed by the empress, making the crane smile as her husband still communicated.

When the emperor stopped his communication, the images in the pool of sacred tears showed the rhinos and boars streaming forward. Tigress began to panic, seeing a large force attacking her people but Po's paw got her attention and the calm shake of his head alleviated her concerns, at least a bit. She looked back at the images, seeing the boards and rhinos reach the tigers where they proceeded to put blankets over them, hand out provisions that they had on them and even carried some of the more seriously wounded back to their base camp where medics began to triage them.

"You were right, Dragon Warrior." the emperor nodded. "They didn't attack."

"Because they are fleeing." Po said morose. "We need to figure out who or what they are fleeing from. What could have caused a warlike culture like the tigers to uproot so completely."

"Dragon Warrior, with all due respect." General Lupina interjected. "Even though the number of tigers is pretty high, I wouldn't call it a complete uprooting."

"General, you don't know." Tigress said. "There have been an estimated hundred thousand tigers and most of them were warriors. Now look to the tigers coming over. Maybe a quarter of them carry weapons and they don't really carry them like warriors. Some are using their spears as crutches. The rest of them are tigers either injured, too old to fight or the few females left to each tribe."

Before anyone else could say something, the door flew open and one of the emperor's personal guards was thrown into the hall. The guards on the inside immediately went to attention, closing in on their lord to protect him while all the masters went into battle mode, ready to fight. A lone figure came into the hall, removing her hood to reveal a face known to two people before collapsing to the floor.

"Mother!" Tigress shouted and jumped over her mother's body to keep the other guards away.

"Tigara." Po said, coming over and turning her around.

"Good lord, what happened?" Shifu asked, having come over as well and seeing the figure on the floor.

Her ribs were standing out, telling of way too little food. Her breathing was shallow and her clothes were incredibly dirty as if she had traveled across the land without pause for food or sleep.

"Mother, what happened?" Tigress asked, seeing her mother's eyes open.

"China is under attack." Tigara managed to say and fell unconscious.

"Mother!"

"Guards, stand down!" the emperor commanded and his guards relaxed. "Chancellor!"

"Yes, my lord?" the pangolin bowed.

"Get my personal physician. That woman needs to be cared for, for she has information we need."

"I will obey, my lord." the pangolin bowed and quickly hurried out of the hall.

"Let me take her." Po offered and put his paws under Tigara, lifting her up. "Damn, she's light as a feather."

With as much care as he could muster, he carried Tigara out of the hall of heroes and into one of the guest rooms, gently putting her onto the cot. Tigress sat down next to her as Monkey carried a bowl of water into the room, along with some pieces of cloth. While they waited for the phyisician, Tigress cleaned as much of the dirt out of her mother's fur, wondering what the horrible thing was that not only dislocated the tigers but made her mother travel all this way to the Valley of Peace.

* * *

 **Done here ^^ Hope you enjoyed.**

 **Review please :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Damn, my wrist keeps bugging me. Lunch breaks at work aren't as productive as they used to be...**

 **Left for Red: Pleeeeeaaaaase do not name the kid goku. It's not my name either, it's a nom de plume (aka a pseudonym) for this site. My real name is Glenn, if you really want to decide to give your future kid my name ^^**

 **Enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: Still don't own it.**

* * *

"Po, how could you not have told me that the emperor and empress would be joining my restaurant for the winter festival feast?" Mister Ping accused Po again, who was busy chopping vegetables.

"Because again, you would have tried to make different food instead of the food you always make that makes the people come here." Po replied patiently.

"Don't bother Po, he will continue to ask that question." Tigress chuckled from a corner where she was busy forming dumplings.

"You be quiet, Master Tigress." Mister Ping scolded, waving his ladle at her. "I may see you as my daughter already, but even Po isn't allowed to talk to me like that when it comes to food. It's the royal couple!"

Tigress went quiet, looking down at the dumplings. Ever since she tried to talk to Po about their relationship, they hadn't had another opportunity and Mister Ping's offhand remark about seeing her as his daughters again reignited those desires to make it official. Po, in his usual manner, had been clueless about it but she didn't begrudge him his ignorance since he possibly still saw himself as unworthy of her, even though she couldn't understand why.

"Dad, leave her be." Po chuckled. "But she's right, you will keep asking me that question."

"And why shouldn't I be? It's the royal couple!"

"Dad, will you stop already?" Po became exasperated. "It will go fine, the food is delicious and they have tasters anyway."

"Is that why he is here?" Mister Ping pointed to the pug in the doorway.

"I am." Huruan nodded.

"That's really insulting." Mister Ping sighed. "Insinuating that my food is somehow harmful."

"What you might think of good food could be harmful to certain species." Huruan pointed out.

"I am a bird myself and I cooked for Master Crane lots of times." Mister Ping returned. "I know what cranes in general can or cannot digest well."

"Be that as it may, I have a job to do and I will do it well." the pug said resolutely.

"Fine." Mister Ping grumbled.

"Your dad is quite possessive when it comes to his kitchen and his food, isn't he?" Tigress whispered to Po.

"You have no idea." Po chuckled in return, leaning towards her which she used as an opportunity to press a quick kiss on his cheek.

"There will be none of that here in my kitchen." the old goose scolded them.

"Dad!" Po whined.

"I mean it. Bad enough when I had to hear you when you were upstairs in Po's old room."

"Dad!" Po hissed as Tigress blushed hard. "That's enough."

Luckily, Mister Ping stayed quiet, at least in terms of their relationship, while not staying shy about some criticism about Tigress' work with the dumplings or the presence of Huruan. When Po and his dad began their kitchen dance, as Tigress had begun to call it when they cooked together for the various feasts, she stepped out, sitting in the restaurant at the master's table, which had been rearranged to build a special table for the royal couple.

She hoped that the two red cranes weren't so stuck up as to not allow the general populace into the restaurant as well, otherwise it might become a very dull affair like last night's dinner had been where everyone had stayed quiet, the setting with the royal couple in attendance unfitting for small talk.

As the time went by, the place filled with townspeople, who all knew the highborn guests that would be in attendance and everyone giving their table a wide berth. Alone, Tigress began thinking about her mother, who was still lying unconscious in the palace, the emperor's personal physician looking over her.

Just before Po and his father finished cooking, the emperor and his wife were announced by their chancellor and the royal guards who took positions at the wall of the restaurant. The people stood up, all bowing as the royal couple walked by, wing on wing, and took their seats at the head table. After a nod by the emperor, the townspeople began chatting with each other, which the empress watched like someone both looking for things said against them and also fascinated by the normalcy the people displayed.

"Serves up!" Po announced, bringing a large pot into the outer area instead of trays of bowls.

"Don't forget who to serve first." she heard Mister Ping hiss at Po who was about to fill the first bowl.

"I know, dad." Po nodded and filled two bowls, placing them in front of the two red cranes. "Your majesties, I hope you will enjoy."

"If it is as tasty as last night's dinner, we sure will." the empress smiled and looked to Huruan, who nodded.

"That is very delicious, Mister Ping." the emperor commented after taking his first sip.

"The emperor knows my name." Ping gushed, almost fainting.

As Po put out the food, the other four members of the Furious Five arrives, sitting down at the table Tigress had taken and leaving the seat next to her free for Po. Po finished handing out the food and sat down, waiting for the emperor to formally open the feast, something that was new this year compared to the others before but never before had they had such a distinguished guest. The emperor looked to the crowd and stood up, clearing his throat.

"Good evening. Tonight, as people across our country gather with family and friends, I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy winter festival. This is always a hopeful time, as we celebrate the coming end of one year and the beginning of another. And while this year was difficult for many of us, we must also look back on this year with the knowledge that brighter days are ahead of us, that although our challenges are great, each and everyone has the determination to rise up and meet them."

"Wow, he is good." Po whispered, getting immediately shushed by Tigress.

"This spirit of courage is what defines us. We may be put down, we may face bad times but we will always pull through. In dangerous times, we look to role models to guide our life. I am proud to spend this winter festival, this celebration of the solstice in the presence of one of China's great symbols of strength, the Dragon Warrior Po Ping. His accomplishments are well known throughout the nation and we all should try to emulate his dedication to the people he swore to protect. I wish you a happy feast."

The people cheered, both for the emperor and for Po, who stayed sitting down, not wanting to overshadow his supreme liege lord. As the emperor sat back down, the people finally began eating, devouring the food Po and his father had cooked.

Tigress began stroking Po's leg with her tail, smiling at her mate as the eating part of the festival began to die down and the first children started to chase each other around the place, even around the emperor's table. One of the imperial guardsman stepped forward to remove the kids but the empress immediately shooed him away, not wanting to create a scene just because the personification of innocence was playing.

"Master Shifu, you're late." the emperor said as the red panda stepped through the arch.

"My apologies, my lord. I was trying to use my Chi to speed the healing process of our guest." Shifu bowed.

"Where you successful?" the empress wanted to know.

"Yes, she woke up briefly." Shifu nodded. "She fell asleep again but this time it is real sleep, not unconsciousness."

"Wonderful news." Po said excitedly. "Maybe tomorrow she can tell us what made her run all the way here."

"My guess is that is has something to do with what we have seen happening in the south." Tigress said somberly.

"Agreed." Shifu nodded as he sat down and began to ate his food.

"Master, what will happen now?" Po asked quietly.

"The emperor has already sent out messengers to all corners of China, a general call to arms. Troops will be sent south to bolster the defenses." Shifu told him. "That's why Tigara's information are so vital, she might know what kind of foes we face and how many. But we already know that they must be formidable if they defeated the tigers."

"A hundred thousand tigers at the west border and beyond, half of them soldiers, and they were defeated. What kind of foe could do that?" Monkey wondered.

"Either a very powerful or numerous one." Crane nodded.

"Or both." Mantis put in.

"That would be very bad." Po said. "If they are both powerful and numerous, we will have problems."

"Agreed." Shifu nodded. "But we shouldn't speak too loudly, I don't want the people to hear. Let them have the festival without worries."

Subdued but outwardly not showing it, the masters celebrated the winter feast, Po playing with the children. Even the empress moved among them, much to the chagrin of the guards who kept watchful eyes on her as she moved between the people and the children, who touched her feathers as if she was some magical creatures.

Crane and Viper put on a show, their relationship allowing them to move in harmony as Crane flew around with Viper in his claws who he threw around so she could make complex shapes in the air, wowing the people watching. Monkey and Mantis, not wanting to be upstaged, did their own routine, scampering along the walls and roofs in what some would describe as a way too overblown game of catch.

Po and Tigress simply watched, the latter snuggling into her panda, her action noticed only by Shifu and the emperor, the rest of the people staring at the display of the other four masters. Shifu shook his head in exasperation, his desire to see his daughter and Po not doing this in public while the emperor smiled inwardly, proud at how his wife saw from the beginning how those two were inseparably intertwined.

As the celebration wound down, he sighed deeply. Depending on what the mother of the tiger master had to say, very soon these people might find themselves in the reality of war. He had hoped that his reign would have been spared such an event, his father before him having conquered and pacified the southern regions before dying from old age.

After two hours and a special dessert made by Po that caused several people to swoon in delight at the sweet taste, the royal couple excused themselves, along with Master Shifu, the leaving guards creating a lot more room for the children to play in. Tigress mentioned to Po and to the door, to which he nodded and stood up, leaving with her while the other four masters kept entertaining the people.

Tigress led him up the path to the dragon grotto, smiling at the memory what she had done the year before after the festival. Her stomach filled with butterflies, her love for the big panda soaring as he puffed melodramatically as he followed her up. After their arrival, they turned and looked towards the open country, his arms around her stomach.

"One year ago, to the day, we were here and mated for the first time." she smiled at him, while both looked out at the stars, the clear sky allowing an unimpeded view.

"We did." Po nodded, taking her hand. "Hard to believe that happened in that time."

"I know." she sighed. "My mother sleeping in the palace, worn out after coming here because my people were displaced by some still unknown force."

"Whatever it is, we will get through this." he comforted her, turning her and hugging her deeper into his arms.

Tigress eased into his embrace, inhaling his distinct musk and enjoying the warmth of his fur. For more than an hour, both stood still, simply holding each other until Tigress pushed him to the floor to get a different kind of relaxation.

* * *

"Magnificent, is it not?" the rat leader giggled maniacally as Lyanna killed another slave rat, sinking her canines into its flesh to still her hunger.

She hated what she had to do. Eating meat and the smell of the blood of those rats, her feral side got stronger and stronger. She needed to keep her wits about herself if she was to kill that rat lord one day without succumbing to her animalistic side, that would kill anyone without mercy, be it friend or foe.

"What is that display supposed to prove, Lord Rattus?" one of the other rats above her asked.

"That our enemies are mindless animals." Rattus replied defiantly.

"Mindless animals wouldn't cause such horrifying casualties in battle." a third rat interjected. "Not to mention that the tiger tribes in the mountains north of here fight with strategic and tactical skill. They have already repulsed half a dozen massive assaults and thwarted every attempt at subterfuge."

"How would you know that?" Rattus asked, his paranoia showing.

"My clan is fighting there." came the answer.

"And your clan will be victorious there." Rattus snarled. "Do you doubt it?"

"No, great lord." the other rat groveled, suddenly afraid.

"The progress is still alarmingly slow." a fourth rat said, not backing down. "We had the element of surprise on our side but what if our next enemies are more prepared?"

"We have let none escape the battles." Rattus argued. "How would they know?"

"What about the second female you let escape?" the first rate pointed to Lyanna.

"What could she do?" Rattus scoffed. "Even if she survives the journey, it will take her weeks to reach the capital of the nation we're about to attack and even if she finds someone to believe her, it will take months until enemy forces are arrayed against us in high enough numbers to stop our armies."

"If you are wrong, and we face defeat at the hands of our enemies, you can be sure that you will be on the front lines." the second rat said defiantly.

"Was that a threat?"

"Yes, it was." the rat returned and walked off, four of the ten rat lords present following him.

Rattus watched them leave, making a mental note of the leaving clan leaders who were accompanying this rebellious rival. Rattus knew that this one had tried to become supreme leader of the attack and only the fact that Rattus had a General with Baribusa's skill under him had made it possible to be chosen.

Yes, those clans would be in the vanguard of the next frontal attacks.

"The list of your enemies is growing." a female voice hissed, causing Rattus to turn and come face to face with Lyanna's bloody face.

"What are you doing, you fools?" Rattus shouted at his guards, who had been watching the other lords leave, while he and the other rat lords loyal to him scrambled backwards in fear. "Get her back into her cell!"

Lyanna hissed in mirth as she was prodded with spears and pushed towards her cell. What she saw happening was the gradual fracturing of this seemingly unstoppable force and before they reached China and in some respect, Tigara. And she still had to keep her promise, to kill that vile rat with her bare claws.

* * *

"Are you alright?" Po asked Tigress, who was sitting on his lap, her back pressed against his broad chest, her tail languidly swinging around and caressing his arm.

"Yes, a bit tired." she smiled and turned her head to kiss the side of his mouth.

"Well, the ground wasn't really fit to sleep on." Po chuckled, remembering how both fell asleep after the extensive lovemaking Tigress had needed to relax her from her worries.

"Not really what I'm tired because of." she giggled, putting her paws over his, which were caressing her stomach.

"I know." he grinned, a bit smug.

"You really should keep up your daily runs up the stairs."

"Po! Tigress!" Crane's voice interrupted any response from the panda before the crane flew into view. "Tigress, your mother is awake."

"We're on our way." Tigress jumped up and pulled Po with her.

They ran down the path towards the palace, not even slowing down when the wolfs on the roof took aim before they recognized the two masters. Tigress took the lead, hurrying into the barracks building and to her old room where they had put Tigara's unconscious form into. When they arrived there, they found the royal couple, the wolf general, Shifu and the emperor's personal physician already present.

"How are you feeling?" Tigress asked, kneeling down next to her.

"Better." Tigara replied, propped up against some pillows on her cot, a cup of tea in her hands. "Thanks for the tea."

"Of course." Po nodded. "It's from the first scroll of Kung Fu, a tea especially for tigers, made to give back energy as quick as possible."

"Are you well enough to give us information?" General Lupina asked, a bit gruff but that seemed to be his usual manners, while the emperor and empress stood at the back of the room, observing.

"The tigers are decimated." Tigara sighed. "Me and my group were doing our guerrilla attacks on the tribes to free the females from their clutches but when we were about to sneak into the main camp of the Kal-Teros tribe..."

"Kal-Teros?" Lupina interrupted.

"One of the western tribes, beyond the border." Tigara explained. "Anyway, when we were about to enter their camp, chaos erupted. A large army of rats rushed over the palisade and began killing any tiger they could find."

"How did you survive?" the empress asked.

"We tried to fight our way out of the camp and some of my group made it while others were killed. Me and Lyanna were captured by the rats and brought to one of their camps. We were presented to what I presume is the leader of the rats or at least of the camp we were brought to."

"Why did they capture and not kill you?" Lupina wanted to know.

"They think our males will be more accommodating when they have females in their clutches."

"Are they?" Po wondered.

"Not more accommodating, but more aggressive." Tigara told him. "In the dogma, we females are second class citizens with no rights but while the males wouldn't care for our well-being in general, they do need us to produce more cubs. So the males, rather than hold back, get more aggressive and reckless to get us back."

"How did you get out?" Tigress asked.

"Lyanna used her claws to break her chains and broke mine with a weapon she took from a guard. Then we began fighting but Lyanna was already injured in her leg. We got separated and she told me to run and warn China."

"What happened to her?" Shifu inquired.

"My best guess, she died fighting." Tigara sniffed.

"How big is the army coming?" Lupina brought the topic back.

"It's massive." Tigara replied. "When I broke out of the underground chambers, I climbed a cliff to get away. When I was at the top, I looked down and all I could see in the distance was more rats everywhere."

"Can you give us a rough number?"

"My best guess? Several hundred thousand, maybe up to a million." Tigara told them, shutting everyone up from shock.

"A million?" Lupina asked disbelievingly.

"Although I don't know how many of them do the fighting." Tigara said.

"What do you mean?" the emperor spoke up, stepping forward.

"Make no mistake about it, this isn't simply an army on a march of conquest." Tigara warned. "It's a civilization on the move. I said to the leader that our land is vast and that a lot of species live side by side but he claims his own species can't coexist with others and they need room to live."

"What happened to the places they lived in before?" Po asked.

"Who knows, I didn't ask." Tigara shot back.

"Is it important?" General Lupina interjected. "They are coming here."

"It could be important if whatever drove them away is chasing them here." Po shrugged.

"He has a point." the empress added. "But our primary goal is the defense of our country."

"Agreed." the emperor nodded. "Mistress Tigara, I would ask you, if you feel able to, to pen a full report on what you learned about our enemy, their numbers, tactics, anything you can think of."

"And who are you again?" Tigara asked, not having been introduced to the red crane.

"Mother, that's the emperor." Tigara hissed.

"The emperor?" Tigara was doubtful. "The emperor of China? For real?"

"Yes." Po nodded.

"Your majesty." Tigara dropped to one knee, wincing at the residual pain.

"Please rise." the emperor chuckled.

"I will comply with the report." Tigara nodded.

"General." the emperor turned to the wolf.

"My lord?"

"Prepare a strategic table in the main hall."

"I will obey." the wolf bowed and exited the room.

The one-eyed wolf, who reminded Po of the one that had fought for Lord Shen, hurried out of the room, the royal couple slowly following. Shifu nodded to them and exited himself, leaving only the royal physician, Tigara, Tigress and Po remaining. Tigress helped her mother up, the older Tiger wearing one of Tigress' robes.

"Anything I can do?" Po asked.

"No, it's okay, I'm fine. Need some food later."

"That I can do." Po grinned. "I'm the cook here."

"Daughter, never let him go." Tigara chuckled. "A man that cooks."

"I don't intend to." Tigress smiled at Po, who pushed her playfully with his shoulder.

"We should head into the main hall." Po said, pointing to the door.

"Agreed." Tigress nodded.

"Just hand me some paper and a quill so I can write my report."

"Will you be alright?" Tigress asked worried.

"Don't worry, I will keep an eye on her." the physician, a pig, said in a soothing voice.

Po and Tigress nodded and headed out, leaving the barracks and entering the great hall. General Lupina, or one of his adjutants, had set up a large table with a map of China and its neighboring terrirtories, several figures representing armies on it. The wolf was busy moving pieces around while the emperor looked on. The empress was nowhere to be seen.

"And the second division will be in the southern region." they heard Lupina say as they closed in.

"That brings us to how many forces?" the emperor wanted to know.

"In total, we have thirteen thousand already down there. When the forces we called yesterday arrive, the number will reach around forty thousand."

"Against up to a million enemies?" Po butted in.

"Our forces are made of strong fighters." Lupina argued.

"I have no doubt, I fought some of them." Po nodded. "But lets say there are really a million soldiers in the rat army, that means each of our soldiers would have to defeat twenty-five enemies."

"Then what would you suggest?" the emperor asked.

"First, talk to the tiger refugees." Po suggested. "Ask them about information on the rats, how many are melee fighters, how many are ranged combatants. Then, ask for volunteers to fight on our side. I'm sure many of them want revenge."

"We already did that." Lupina smiled. "We're not completely dense, you know?"

"No insult intended." Po bowed. "What did they say?"

"They told our commanders that roughly seventy percent of the enemy are poorly trained soldiers whose only tactic seems to be a massed frontal assault but they do it viciously. The remainder are ranged fighters who also use some kind of gas along with arrows. One tiger reported that in the engagement that forced him to flee, the wind blew the gas back to the rats which killed quite a lot of them, thus allowing the tigers to retreat." Lupina recounted. "But the rats also have some better trained and equipped forces which are said to be very formidable and disciplined."

"General." the emperor interjected.

"My lord?"

"Sent another wave of messengers. Call in the reserves and ask for volunteers to defend our country. Everybody should head to the assembly points inside one week and then march to the bases we will designate until then."

"Your will be done." Lupina bowed.

"Dragon Warrior?" the red crane turned to Po.

"Yeah?" Po looked at him.

"If you were in command, knowing what enemy we face, where would you make our stand?"

"You're asking me?" Po was surprised.

"Yes." the emperor nodded.

"Why?"

"Because you are the Dragon Warrior. And you might have some other view on this." the emperor pointed to the figures representing army formations. "You see where General Lupina wants to defend."

"I would defend here." Po pointed on the map, to a part that was some way away from the southern border.

"That would leave the southern regions open." General Lupina argued.

"I know." Po sighed. "But given the numbers of enemies we face, we need to concentrate our forces on choke points where they can't bring them to bear. So I would defend these passes. The main attack will most likely be here, at the widest of them because they can mass the most forces there. Also, that gas you talked about won't be working there, since the wind blows down from the mountains."

"But..."

"General." the emperor interrupted.

"Lord?"

"The Dragon Warrior is right. Our forces may be a lot stronger than the enemy when fighting one on one but we face unprecedented numbers. Adding to that, we haven't been in a real war in a generation."

"But my lord, can we really just abandon the people in the south?" the chancellor argued, who stood behind his lord.

"Order the people to evacuate to the north."

"Do we have enough time for that?"

"We should have." Po mentioned. "I can't imagine a force like that we're facing to move fast. Tigara said it was more like a migration."

"A few fast wolf units and maybe one or two consisting of tigers should be able to defend the civilian convois." Lupina nodded, his mind set on planning now that he had his orders.

"Alright, then it is set." the emperor said. "Our forces will ultimately assemble at the passes within a month."

The General left to issue the orders, leaving Po, Tigress and Shifu alone with the emperor and his chancellor. An awkward silence filled the room, nobody sure of the protocols regarding small talk with the leader of their nation. Shifu tried to bluff his unease by studying the map, finding no fault in Po's suggestion to use the passes as a defensive line.

"Master, what will our duties be?" Po asked.

"You will be going to the main pass too." Shifu told him. "The Dragon Warrior is the symbol of China, he needs to be there."

"What will happen to the valley?" Tigress wanted to know.

"I will keep it safe." Shifu replied. "I am too old to wage war."

"I will return and on the way, rouse support for the war." the emperor spoke up. "Dragon Warrior, may your fortunes be good."

"Thank you, my lord." Po bowed and waited until the red crane has left.

"We should go and pack." Tigress said.

"What about your mother?" Po asked. "Will she come with us?"

"Just try to stop me." Tigara surprised them, limping into the room. "They owe me their lives for Lyanna."

As Po and Tigress moved towards the barracks to get their things, they took each others paws and pressed them gently as a show of support. Tigress had hoped to talk to Po about their relationship but the development of a war for the existence of their nation put a hold on that. She would fight as hard as she could and protect her mate. Just like he would for her.

* * *

 **Done. Damn, that was hard with one hand.**

 **Review please :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**For those who don't read my TBBT stories, I apologize here too for the long wait. I had some really busy weeks at work because it's vacation time, so there's always one of my colleagues missing and on top of that, another got sick, so I had to work extra and after twelve hours staring at a screen you simply don't want to write anything when you get home :(**

 **Still, try to enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned it, I'd be rich.**

* * *

"Po, I don't see why you have to leave." Mister Ping whined, for the hundredth time.

"Dad, do you think I want to go?" Po sighed. "But I'm the Dragon Warrior, the defender of China and like it or not, we are at war. And given what happened to the tigers, I don't think those rats will let you live if they ever made it here."

"But you could die."

"I know it's a risk." Po tried again. "If it makes you feel better, I promise not to do anything mightily stupid."

"Po, you tend to be impetuous at times." Mister Ping argued.

"Don't worry, this time I have a good reason not to take unnecessary risks." Po smiled, turning his head at his striped mate who was waiting outside for their goodbye to end.

"But if she gets into danger, you might do something really rash to help her."

"Of course, that's what's called love." Po shrugged. "You do anything for the person you love, even if it's stupid and dangerous."

"Here Po, I made you a generous batch of these shrunken dumplings your father created." Mister Ping said and handed Po a large batch of the tiny pebbles.

"The one that grow to twice the size of regular dumplings when you add water?" Po grinned. "Nice."

"Po, we're ready." Tigress called into the house.

"I'm coming." he called back out and hugged his foster father. "Bye dad. See you hopefully soon."

"Good bye Po." Mister Ping returned, crying. "Be your best and fight hard."

"I will." Po nodded and headed out where Tigress and their fellow masters were waiting, along with all the troops of the emperor's entourage that could be spared.

"I wish you best of luck." the emperor told them. "General Lupina will lead the forces, I would ask you to follow his lead to show unity."

"Of course." Po nodded. "Master Shifu, keep the valley safe."

"I will, of course." Shifu nodded. "Good luck Po, Tigress. And you of course, Crane, Viper, Monkey and Mantis."

Without further tearful goodbyes, the masters waved at the townspeople who came out to see them off, all of them waving handkerchiefs or their arms. Not a single one stayed home, everyone wanting to wish them good luck or getting a promise to return. As the town receded into the distance, Po walked forward quickly, to reach General Lupina.

"General, any new information on the evacuations?" he asked the one-eyed wolf.

"Not many. The evacuation orders have been dispatched with the utmost haste but my guess is that the people in more outlying communities are sometimes hesitant to leave their homes, thinking that them being outside any major trade or march routes will save them."

"Are the messengers telling them that the force coming is massive?"

"Of course." Lupina nodded. "But sometimes, they simply don't believe us."

"And what happens then?" Po wanted to know.

"We leave them to their fate." Lupina shrugged.

"But that's horrible."

"It is what it is." Lupina shrugged again. "If someone really doesn't want to be saved, we won't force them."

"Alright." Po sighed, seeing the logic in it as much as it pained him to know that someone would get hurt or killed simply for not believing a warning. "Are we going directly to the passes?"

"No, we first head to Zhongyang City. There, we will rally the various forces that are coming down from the north into one single force and then march south and southwest to the passes."

"What about Xinan?" Po asked.

"What about it?"

"I saw it, it's pretty defensible. High mountains on both sides, high and thick walls..."

"True." Lupina nodded. "But two problems. One, it gives the enemy a broad avenue of attack, much wider than the passes. And even walls collapse at some point if you pound them hard enough and we don't know the siege capabilities of these rats. And two, the walls of Xinan don't end at the mountain sides but they go around the city. So even if we manage to hold of the frontal attacks, the rats could easily bring troops around the city."

"I still don't like the idea of conceding a large part of the country." Po huffed.

"Neither do I." General Lupina growled back. "But I have to look at the broader picture. You yourself made the case for the passes and the need of letting the southern part fall to the enemy."

"I know." Po sighed and rubbed his hands over his eyes.

"Don't worry, Dragon Warrior." Lupina smiled devilishly. "Once we broke them at the passes, we can mop up the remainder."

"That's based on the assumption that we still can."

"What do you mean?"

"You heard what Tigara had said. There could be a million of them coming. If we have too many casualties, we won't have the strength to mop up the south."

"That's true." Lupina nodded. "Too bad we didn't know about them earlier, then we could have massed our forces at the Xinan pass."

"The what?" Po asked.

"The Xinan pass." Lupina repeated. "It marks the boundary between the area of Xinan and the wild country where the tiger tribes live... or lived."

"Never heard of it." Po admitted.

"Let me show you." Lupina said and produced a map, pointing to a town marked on it. "This is Xinan. And here to the left of it, about a Li distance, is the Xinan pass. Very narrow, relatively speaking, about two Li long. Fifty rhino soldiers could easily block the entire width of it. Stack them twenty deep and you have a wall that any enemy smaller than rhinos would have a very hard time breaking through."

"Huh, me and Master Tigress were down there, I never saw that pass. We entered the tiger lands further north."

"Of course, the Xinan pass isn't the only pass to tiger country. But it's the only one feasible enough to move large numbers of troops and especially their supplies over." Lupina nodded. "The other passes are very woody and uneven terrain. You can get troops over there but they would be without any supplies, except for what they can carry."

"You mean something like commando raids." Po stated.

"Correct. But according to the information that we already collected, the rats don't do that, at least we haven't heard of it."

"That's a comfort at least." Po sighed. "What if we hurried and tried to block that pass to Xinan? Then we could prevent the entire south from falling into the rat's hands, couldn't we?"

"We already thought of that and dismissed it. According to your mate's mother, the rats have progressed very far through tiger country. They can't be much farther away from the Xinan pass than a week. It took that tiger woman longer than that to run at speed to the Valley of Peace and that was without many pauses for sleep and food. The only forces we could feasibly move that fast without them being completely exhausted are our flying units but they are too weak to block a pass." Lupina explained to Po. "At the very best, we would need three to four weeks to reach the Xinan pass with our rhino and boar forces but that would mean daily forced marches of at least sixteen hours."

"I understand." Po nodded and moved back towards the other masters.

"So, what's the news?" Mantis asked, riding on Crane's hat.

"We will first head to Zhongyang City to rally with other forces coming south and then head to the passes. There is a pass a short distance from Xinan that could have been used to block the rats almost completely but we're not fast enough to reach it."

"Did he tell you anything as to how we are supposed to stop a million enemies?" Crane wanted to know.

"By killing them one by one." Tigara answered for Po, making the others heads turn.

"Isn't that a little harsh?" Monkey wondered.

"No!" Tigara returned forcefully. "These bastards have decimated my race and they will not stop with others! The only way to stop them is to kill them. Kill them all."

None of the others had anything to say to that, knowing just by looking at the distraught face of Tigress' mother, that they couldn't sway her opinion no matter what they said.

* * *

"Another great victory over those striped felines." Lord Rattus proclaimed, showing his teeth in an evil smile that was in equal parts glee and threat to the other assembled lords.

"Right, great victory." General Baribusa scoffed quietly, ever the outspoken critic.

"You have something to add, General?" one of the other leaders asked.

"We fought against a rearguard." Baribusa clarified.

"But we killed them all." Rattus snarled.

"And lost five times as many soldiers." Baribusa added.

"Irrelevant." Rattus waved him off. "Our breeders will soon refill those ranks."

"But they have to be trained before. And they can't replace the storm troopers we have lost."

"General." Rattus growled and looked up at the larger rat. "While you are great at leading my troops, you are not irreplaceable."

"Apologies, my lord." Baribusa said but in a tone that was more sarcastic than submissive, making Rattus snarl even more.

"Our forward scouts report a different type of enemy blocking an upcoming narrow pass." another rat in the semicircle said.

"They will die like the felines did." Rattus returned.

"Are you sure?" yet another rat interjected. "They are said to look tougher than the striped ones."

"They cannot stand against our numbers." Rattus growled. "General, you will attack this enemy as soon as we are in range."

"I would rather observe them first, to find out any weaknesses in their position." Baribusa countered, his military mind working on the problem.

"YOU WILL DO AS I SAID!" Rattus shouted, finally fed up with his underlings insufferable lack of submission.

"As you will it, my lord." Baribusa grumbled and turned to leave without waiting to be allowed to.

"And we shall watch how our troops triumph." Rattus said to the others and stomped out of the chamber, leaving some of the other lords sitting in amused silence.

Half of the rats got up as well and hurried after their supreme leader, as to not present the image that they were somehow rebellious against him. The other half kept sitting, waiting for the first half to completely exit hall and making sure that they were alone.

"Lord Melkor, when do we remove him?" one rat asked. "I grow tired of Rattus' behavior."

"For now we let him in command. His ineptitude in strategic and tactical matters slowly but surely outweighs Baribusa's abilities." the rat in the center, who was by any measure the second highest ranked rat in the host replied.

"We also need to talk about Baribusa." the rightmost rat interjected. "It seems he grows tired of Rattus' machinations as well and it would be wise to have a troop leader of his caliber on our side."

"You call a general who regularly loses four to five times as many troops a great leader?" the first rat doubted.

"We all know who gave the strategic orders for these battles." Melkor told him. "I'm certain that without Baribusa's tactical brilliance, we might have suffered losses ten times higher than we already had. And this time, Rattus basically tied Baribusa's hands and forced him to make a frontal assault against an entrenched enemy. If the enemy is able to hold fast and doesn't break against the first assault, it will be very hard to dislodge them. The corpses of our own soldiers will hamper our ability to move even more."

"By the way, are there any progress reports on the northern battlefields?" the rat to the left of Melkor asked.

"Not current ones. The last missive was from three days ago and told of another defeat. The reinforcements sent by Baribusa should be arriving in a few days." Melkor answered.

"Should we replace Generals Korgana and Snikkar? It seems, they have no success whatsoever." the leftmost rat wondered.

"This time, their lack of success is hardly their fault. The felines defending the north have dug in expertly and the terrain makes it impossible to get around them. Also, a lot of the felines that fled before us got to the north and reinforced the already present tribes there." Melkor informed the rat.

"Very well. We should follow our supreme leader before he wonders why we haven't come out yet." the rat said sarcastically.

The group got up and left the hall they had used for this meeting. Lowly rat slaves hurried into the building to clean it up and take everything that wasn't part of the building structure. When the group arrived outside, Rattus was staring at them in open challenge which none of the scheming rats acknowledged simply by not looking at their supreme leader, instead watching unit after unit of rats assemble in formation.

When the process didn't finish, Baribusa shouted harsh commands, causing the rat soldiers to hurry into position. The only rats not needed to be scolded were the storm troopers, disciplined ranks of highly trained and well equipped rats, each at least a head taller than any lowly soldier and any of their lords. The only rat that was even more impressive than them was Baribusa himself, who had served as a storm trooper and the fact alone that he was able to survive long enough to rise to the rank of general told of his mettle and skill with the broadsword he was carrying.

The rat council sat down on high and soft chairs while slaves held large umbrellas over them to protect them from the drizzle, the climate in the area not too cold but very moist. It took several more hours for the lowly rat soldiers to assemble properly, their officers helping them along by whacking them with wooden sticks when they weren't fast enough. Finally, the troops destined for this attack were assembled and Baribusa stood on top of a boulder, looking at the host that was to be the first wave, unless they managed to break through.

But he wouldn't know that unless he saw the battlefield in person.

"MOVE OUT!" Baribusa shouted and a hundred thousand feet began marching, disordered at first but soon the stomping began to sync up as the drummers started beating the time.

"Magnificent, is it not?" Rattus cackled, pulling the chain tight that he was holding to get his prisoner to look at the scene.

"Obscene is the word I would choose." Lyanna spat, trying to find some comfortable way to sit with her paws chained tightly together.

"Insolent wretch." Rattus snarled and whacked her with his small paw, causing Lyanna to growl and Rattus to quickly snatch his paw back.

"Should we go with the troops to the front?" Melkor asked.

"There is no need for me to endanger myself." Rattus countered. "General Baribusa will lead the attack and if the need arises, we will send reinforcements."

"The typical response of a coward." Lyanna chuckled.

"Silence!" Rattus shouted and hit her again only to have his hand almost bitten, Lyanna only missing his fingers by an inch. "Get her back into the cage!"

Several rat guards used their spears to get Lyanna moving, away from that ridiculous rat and his court. She glared at her captor, her eyes promising him a painful death if she ever got out of her chains.

Lord Melkor watched her depart and began to smile, a plan forming in his mind.

* * *

Tiganus, second and only surviving son of the late Tigerius, paced anxiously on the floor while waiting for the city council to make its decision. It galled him that he had to more or less grovel for their attention and an even bigger slap in the face was that female tiger sitting on the right hand side of the city leader, indicating her high rank. How a female could ever get into such a position of power was beyond him.

It should have never been like this. His father had began unifying more and more tribes with his access to the potion and his policy of taking the females of lesser clans hostage to force their loyalty. His tribe had been on the ascendance until that fateful day when he had trained in the large base camp and his father's separated head had suddenly fallen a few feet away from him.

When he and the other tigers had realized the implications, they had tried to assert their dominance. Since his brothers had been away, the title should have gone to him but upon entering the upper camp, they had found three factions, comprised mostly of tigers absorbed from other clans, fighting and killing each other.

Despite his best attempts, the fighting had spilled over into the large base camp and as a result, eighty percent of the assembled warriors, including his two younger brothers, had perished before order had been restored. To add to the insult, there hadn't been enough of his own warriors left to prevent the tribes who had been absorbed into their ranks from leaving again.

The final insult came when he had found out that their entire stock of females had escaped. Later, when he had questioned survivors of the top camp, he had learned that the cause for the escape and unrest that had led to his father's death had been a fat panda and a female tiger, a female his father had called his daughter.

Which means he had a sister out there who killed their father.

So he had vowed revenge and tried to get the tribe back together. The arrival of his older brother almost derailed his plans, when he had tried to assert his birthright of heritage but Tiganus had quickly dispatched him and fed his body to the fishes. But before any of his revenge plans could come to fruition, these rats had shown up, their stupefyingly superior numbers quickly overcoming his defenses and scattering the survivors of his tribe into all directions, with most of them being killed.

He had reached Xinan with less than a hundred of his men and grudgingly asked for asylum. Since then, he had pleaded with the city council to take him seriously and much to his chagrin, only the advice of that female tiger councilor had convinced the leader to send out an eagle scout who had come back two days later with confirmation of Tiganus' claims.

"Are you done yet?" Tiganus asked exasperated.

"You should know that what you proposed is not something we can decide quickly." the leader, a sickly looking pig, replied.

"But we are afraid that we have no other choice." the female tiger added, making Tiganus growl under his breath. "But an evacuation of this city is a feat that can't succeed with a massive army breathing down our necks that can move faster than our people can."

"That's why I convinced you to send your rhino warriors to the pass, to block it."

"But our scout reported hundreds of thousands of rats, how can five hundred rhinos stop them?" another councilor inquired.

"They only have to hold them long enough for your people to get away." Tiganus told him, trying to sound sincere.

In truth, he didn't care for the people as much as he cared for killing as many rats possible and of course, finding out where his sister was so he could take his revenge. But to achieve that, he had to get away and convincing these fools that he cared about them so they would take him and his men with him to get north was worth the bile he felt when talking to them.

"I'm still not comfortable with sacrificing five hundred of our best soldiers." another councilor, a panther, sighed.

"We don't have to." that female tiger interrupted. "Piccha said she could blow up the cliff faces of the pass, blocking it."

"That crazy alchemist?" the leader chuckled.

"You mean that twitchy ferret that smells of sulfur?" Tiganus asked, getting a nod in return. "She's sitting outside this chamber."

"Show her in." the leader called to the guard at the door, who opened it and led a ferret inside. "Master Piccha, you claim that you can block the pass?"

"Oh yes, yes." the ferret nodded ecstatically. "My blasting powder works very beautifully. Enough of it into the right positions and the whole thing will come down."

"How do you know the right positions?" the leader asked again.

"I can show him that." the panther replied. "I spent a lot of time in the pass during my youth, I know every crack."

"Very well. But won't that lock the rhinos out once the pass is blocked?"

"Not if we pull them back during a lull in the fighting." the female tiger said. "Best under the cover of night."

"My lord!" the guard at the door yelled to get the council's attention. "We have an imperial envoy outside."

"Show him in!" the leader said quickly, watching the regal eagle move into the room. "It's good you are here, we have an important message for the emperor about an enemy that is about to attack our land."

"The emperor knows about the rats attacking this country." the envoy stated. "I bring an order by the emperor to evacuate the city and bring your people across the passes into the heartlands."

"Is the emperor aware of the sheer number of enemies we face?" Tiganus asked.

"He is." the eagle nodded. "To that end, he has ordered the army to assemble and block the passes."

"Why doesn't he come here to block this pass?" Tiganus growled.

"Because it takes a month for an army large enough to hold it to get here." the female tiger returned, making Tiganus' skin crawl to be lectured by a female.

"Alright, this is what we will do." the pig stated. "Our rhinos will block the pass while Master Piccha places her blasting powder into the correct positions to blow the pass. We will send off our civilians towards the north with our remaining forces as escort."

"Agreed." the other councilors nodded.

"Lord Tiganus?" the pig addressed the tiger on the floor, showing him the respect he so clearly craved.

"Yes?"

"I would like you and your men to remain here until the pass is blown. When our rhino soldiers retreat, the rats will surely take advantage and some might get through before the pass is completely blocked. I'm sure your men want some revenge, won't they?"

"I..." Tiganus started, wanting to move with the civilians to get closer to wherever his sister was but the thought of killing rats was just as appealing. "With pleasure."

"Good, then it's settled." the pig nodded and turned to the guard behind him. "Give the orders to our civilians. They have until tomorrow morning to pack their things and they are to leave everything heavy behind. May the gods help us all."

Tiganus left the assembly hall and rejoined his men, telling him about the plan, most of them gleeful at the prospect of killing rats. He noticed some of them in the distance, talking to the civilians while two were even talking to another female tiger as if she was their equal. He needed to keep his men in line, otherwise they might not support him when it came to exacting his revenge on his traitorous sister and that fat panda who have ruined his life.

* * *

 **Again, I'm so sorry for the long delay. Unfortunately, my workload is still insane and I have two other stories that I also write, so I don't know how fast I can update his one.**

 **Review please :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Death Fury: No, this story will stay T. Because you don't want a "love scene", you want a smut scene ^^ But I will leave that to your imagination.**

 **Enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: Unfortunately not owning anything**

* * *

"Okay!" Po shouted back. "The leader is down!"

"Bring him back here." General Lupina called to him.

Po lifted the leader of the boar bandits over his shoulders and carried him back to the other forty who were already bound tightly together and guarded by rhino and wolf soldiers. He threw the boar to the ground, making the former grunt in pain as his hands were bound as well. General Lupina stood in front of them, eyeing each bandit individually as if gouging their fears.

Po wondered why that bandit group had attacked them in the first place. Even with their numbers of forty boars plus the leader, they had never had a chance against a group of battle-hardened soldiers and six Kung Fu masters. Tigress joined Po, linking her right arm under his left, leaning into his shoulders and purring quietly.

"What do you make of them?" he asked her, pointing to the boar bandits.

"They look hungry and desperate." she replied.

Po had to agree, seeing several of the boars clearly malnourished and with dejected looks in their eyes. He knew that the current winter was harsh, even though less so than the one last year that had basically turned the country on its ears by freezing the jungle and upending the tiger tribes before they had mostly been annihilated by their new foe.

"They would have to be when they thought attacking a company of soldiers three times their size." he agreed.

"Maybe they thought it was a trade caravan." she whispered as General Lupina stopped his pacing.

"Alright, here's the deal." the one-eyed wolf started. "You may have not noticed but China is in an official state of war with a terrible foe in the south. As such, our laws allow me to summarily execute anyone who hinders the war effort. Attacking a military convoy to rob its food and armament stores is considered an act of sabotage and helping the enemy."

"Is he going to execute all of them?" Po asked shocked.

"Since it's my prerogative to decide on the punishment, I hereby offer you a choice." Lupina continued. "You join the military and fight for China during this war, after which you can discharge with honor and your criminal records will be expunged, or reject my offer and face the death penalty."

"I will never fight for the country that jailed my father." the leader of the bandits said defiantly.

"As you wish." Lupina nodded and took out his broadsword to quickly behead the boar, to the shock of everyone else around him. "Anyone else?"

To nobody's surprise, the remaining boars quickly agreed to join the army, the prospect of facing immediate death a good motivator but as Po saw it, the other boars were also glad to join simply to get something to eat. The Kung Fu masters, always trying to save life, were shocked at the sudden execution but none said anything, knowing it wouldn't change anyone's mind.

Two hours later, the convoy stopped for the night and Po headed to the provision carts to begin cooking with the other cooks. While at first, the ducks had objected to him interfering in their work, they had come to appreciate his dedication to food and also its taste, leaving him to season the meals while they cooked the basics after Po had decided on the meal of the day.

As Po and Tigress had suspected, the former boar bandits quickly headed to the food dispenser, the other soldiers even making room for them to go first. For their consideration, Po had decided to cook a meal that had the most nutritional value, a stew the recipe of he had learned from one of the Kung Fu scrolls.

"A fine meal, Dragon Warrior." General Lupina said appreciatively as Po ate as well.

"Thanks General." Po nodded.

"Your mate also seems to enjoy it." Lupina chuckled, pointing at Tigress, who was almost inhaling her already third bowl.

"General, what's the plan?"

"In two days, we should reach Zhongyang City." Lupina told him. "There we will combine our force with however many others have already arrived there and move south to the passes. We should be there in another week. That gives us hopefully enough time to fortify the passes."

"Will our forces be enough to hold them?" Tigress wanted to know, pausing in her eating.

"I hope so." Lupina sighed. "We'll concentrate our troops at the westernmost pass since it's the widest and really the only one for large scale troop movements."

"And the others?" Po asked. "How many troops will you send there?"

"I won't send any to the easternmost pass. Every pass already has a five hundred strong garrison and the eastern pass is at points only wide enough to allow a single cart through. Even if the rats bring half a million troops, the garrison will easily be able to hold them off while we bring in reinforcements."

"What about the middle pass?"

"It's wider than the eastern one but still narrower than the western. Also, I already sent messengers to the garrison there, ordering them to collapse the cliff walls to create blockage. That and a few reinforcements should deter most foes."

"Will our forces be enough to hold the western pass?"

"I have no idea." Lupina sighed. "We have some advantages. The garrison is built at the top so the rats will have to attack uphill with a ten to fifteen percent incline with a sheer drop on one side of the incline before the road turns into a serpentine. But even then, it will be a slug fest. But any more detailed planning will have to wait until we are there. I haven't been at the passes in several years."

Po let some of his stew drip back into the bowl, having lost his appetite at the prospect of having to kill a whole lot of enemies. He knew that sometimes it was necessary but knowing how many rats were coming put a dent into his usually good mood. He looked at Tigress, who was drinking up the remaining broth of her third bowl of food and the view of his mate with her tail moving left and right in content brought a smile to his face.

"You're depressed." Tigress noted to which he nodded. "You don't like killing."

"You know me so well." he chuckled sadly and emptied his bowl too.

"Come on." she said with a smile, holding out her paw to make him get up. "I know something that we can do in our tent that will cheer you up."

Grinning, Po followed her to their tent, as the rest of the camp also broke for the night except the camp guards. And Tigress did her best to cheer him up.

* * *

"Attack again!" Rattus shrieked, pointing at the pass where lots of rhinos were still standing, battered but unbroken.

"Lord Rattus, we have lost almost fifty thousand troops already." Melkor said from behind Rattus, in a tone that seemed submissive but was anything but.

"I don't care, I want that pass taken." Rattus growled.

"Even our best General has been wounded in the fighting and there hasn't been any progress."

Lyanna watched the exchange with interest and a devilish smile, enjoying how the rats were losing thousands of troops for no gain at all. She had arrived in the battle zone two days after the initial attack, having been dragged here inside her cage by her handlers, five scared rats that didn't dare go near her after she had ripped the sixth apart with her claws.

She had to admit, the rhinos blocking the pass had done it perfectly. It was narrow, so only a part of the force could be in the front line and they wore heavy armor, broad shields and spears. The lowly rat soldiers were poorly armed and armored, few wearing any armor at all and only small wicker shields that couldn't stop a strong sneeze.

She had watched a force of at least ten thousand rats storm against the rhinos and despite their combined weight, the rhinos had held firm, their line bending only slightly. Then they had pushed them away and risen their shields only to slam their spears forward to kill the entire first row of rats. To her surprise and joy, tigers had appeared on top of the cliffs, hurling spears and flinging arrows at the force below them, killing scores of rats that could do nothing but wait and always hitting an enemy for there were so many that it was impossible to miss.

The bodies of the fallen were piled high on the sides of the pass entrance, creating even more blockage, albeit a smelly one. During the night, the rhinos let the rats slaves take the corpses away, knowing that they couldn't stay where they were for risk of disease. She was sure that if the rhinos knew that the rats would chop the corpses apart to use as food, they would burn them and not let them be carried away.

On the second day of their presence, she had watched the General of the entire force attack with his elite force. The fight had been bloody and long and it had looked as if the rhinos would break. But then the General was carried back to the camp, injured and unconscious, which led to the attack rapidly falling apart due to lack of leadership.

Rattus had tried to force a breakthrough by doing the same things that hadn't worked before, bringing the lowly soldiers forward to try to overwhelm the rhinos with sheer numbers. Now fresh mounds of corpses were lining the road to the pass, their smell permeating the air and making her gag.

She wondered how the rhinos were able to stand their ground again and again, because even a large number must surely be exhausted by now. Yet there were always fifty standing side by side and more behind them plus the tigers on the cliffs that kept shooting arrows at everything that came into range. Not that the rhinos had been passive all the time. On several occasion after throwing back another attack, they had rushed forward, goring surviving rats and killing scores more as they fled before retreating back to the bass to form a new line of defense.

Now it had been twenty days of one-sided slaughter and Lyanna had lost count of the number of rat corpses that had been carried through camp. Yet still, more and more fresh troops were arriving constantly from the base camp, making her wonder if there was ever an end to them. Most of the newly arriving rats looked like the lowly soldiers, no armor, a small wicker shield and a badly made sword, barely able to cut a rope.

"My lord, it will be dark soon, should we start another attack?" a rat officer asked, most likely now in charge of the troops while General Baribusa was incapacitated.

"No, a night attack is useless." Rattus conceded, a rare tactical insight and left for his tent. "Get me Chokar, I have need of his skills."

"Now he's asking for the poison maker. When will we move against him?" Lyanna heard one rat ask another.

"Soon." came the reply. "He has squandered forces whose numbers equal two entire clans and an entire brigade of elite storm troopers. Baribusa should be furious about their loss so we might be able to turn him to our side."

"We would have to wait until he wakes up again." a third rat pointed out.

"The medics say it will most likely be soon." the leader of the group said and dispersed them.

Lyanna thought about what she just heard. It was remarkable that they didn't even try to hide themselves from her or they didn't see her as a living being so that they ignored her. But it was apparent that the rumblings against Rattus became louder and would soon boil over. She had to make sure that she was ready to act when the time came.

* * *

"Is it ready?" Tiganus asked Piccha, the nervous ferret who had build and deployed an insane amount of explosives all over the cliff faces.

"Yes, they are all placed." Piccha nodded giddily. "You only need to light the fuses."

"The what?" Tiganus wondered. "Where is the black powder we will have to light?"

"I put them into these rubber hoses so they won't go out."

"That's... handy." Tiganus said impressed despite himself, looking at the rubber hoses that protect the black powder inside from the elements.

He looked towards the cliff, seeing the dozens of hoses going up the stone, disappearing into holes where Piccha had put the explosives. He hoped that it would be enough and much to his chagrin, he had to trust that little ferret. He could see the rhinos at the far end of the pass, still standing guard, three ranks deep, and his tigers on top of the cliffs, occasionally shooting at a target only they could see from their perspective.

"The dummies are ready." the female tiger councilor surprised him.

"Alright." Tiganus nodded.

While he had never bothered to learn that females name, he grudgingly had to admit that her idea of exchanging the rhinos with dummies in the night to cover their escape was a brilliant idea. To that end, several dozen civilians had stayed in town and created fake rhinos out of wood and paint to fool the rats that the pass was still defended.

Tiganus thought that they could have kept up the defense, their foes having thrown tens of thousands of troops against them without success, their own forces killing them all in a perfectly executed phalanx defense. Yet his own tigers were already reporting their own exhaustion and they didn't even have to fight in close combat, so the rhinos, even with her superior stamina, would also be on the brink of total collapse.

"As soon as it is dark, we will begin the exchange." Tiganus nodded.

"We're already bringing them forward, using the shade of the left cliff wall as cover from prying eyes." the female added, making Tiganus' skin crawl since he couldn't fathom the fact that females were doing things on their own.

The female left him alone and joined the councilors that had remained with the rearguard. Tiganus had hoped that everybody would have left except the people needed for the fighting effort but unfortunately, too many had stayed. For the past three weeks, his men had come in contact with several female tigers who had also come sneaking through the pass, learning to appreciate their willpower and strength and that was something he couldn't allow.

Their dogma was in danger of being completely abandoned. He needed his men loyal to achieve his goal of revenge. The messenger that had told them to evacuate had told them that the army was assembling at the passes and that included several Kung Fu masters, one of which was his sister. And to get and kill her, he needed his men to keep the others away from him and her.

"Can we do it now?" Piccha asked him, snapping him out of his thoughts and making him realize that he had zoned out for at least an hour.

"What about our forces?" he asked the ferret.

"There they come." the ferret pointed forward where a line of rhinos were quietly marching towards them out of the dark.

"Are the dummies working?" he asked one of the rhinos.

"So far they weren't attacked." the rhino shrugged and kept walking, infuriating Tiganus with that blatant disrespect for his stature.

"We had heard rumblings from the rat camp." one his tigers reported. "But we haven't seen troops amassing."

"Retreat back to the city, get something to eat and get the last convoy moving." Tiganus ordered. "We need to get some distance."

"You go too." the ferret told him. "I can run faster than you."

Despite his outrage at being told what to do, Tiganus had to admit that the little animal was right, it could vastly outpace him if the need arose. With a last grumble, he walked towards the rally point with his tigers, catching up to the rhinos who were already eating some broth and taking some new weapons and pieces of armor to replace their worn out ones.

Ten minutes later, the convoy was on its way, leaving an empty city behind. And after two hours of walking, Tiganus wondered why he hadn't heard the sound of an explosion yet.

* * *

"I want you to build poison globes that we can shoot with our catapults." Rattus ordered Chokar, a wrinkled old rat that smelled of urine and black powder.

"To what end?" Chokar rasped, his voice long damaged from inhaling his own lab fumes.

"I want them to shatter on the ground so we can poison our enemies since attacking them doesn't seem to work." Rattus clarified.

"That will be easy to do." Chokar told him. "We simply use the old lamp bulbs we didn't smash. It will be easy to seal them once the poison is inside."

"Will it hit the entire enemy force?"

"It should when the winds are in favor." Chokar nodded. "But I can't promise that the enemy will directly die from exposure."

"Our own rats die in seconds when exposed to the poison." Rattus argued.

"Yes, but we never tested in on any other race." Chokar pointed out. "But it will at least hinder them."

"That will have to suffice then."

"We could test it on your prisoner." Chokar suggested.

"No!" Rattus said decisively. "I still need her. I won't risk killing her."

"As you wish." Chokar bowed and left the tent to load up the lamp bulbs.

Rattus sat back into his throne and thought about the last twenty days. His perfect attack plan had failed spectacularly, thanks to all the incompetent underlings who grovel at his feet for a measure of his attention. Not only that, he was sure that Melkor and some of his inner circle were actively conspiring against him and now, even General Baribusa had had the audacity to get himself taken out of action by one of the enemy soldiers.

He wondered what had happened. After dispatching his own mentor and starting the migration to the east, their earlier conquests had worked beautifully. They had swept through the deserts of Persianus and Kanus, defeating the sluggish bovine race living in one and the fast equus in the other country before heading into the jungles of India.

But there, their progress had stalled, at first. Faced with striped feline creatures that seemed to relish killing his soldiers, their first attacks were met with disaster until he had brought superior numbers to bear. And even though they had rolled over every feline force they encountered, casualties had always been high.

And now it became ridiculous. The northern battlefields were consuming troops faster than their breeders could pop them out and this pass gave him a headache that could only be healed by killing every last one of those infuriatingly resilient horned creatures guarding the narrow passageway into the fertile lands beyond.

"We are ready." Chokar announced after entering without asking.

"Lets go." Rattus growled, deciding to ignore that blatant display of disrespect.

Outside, he saw a row of medium-sized of wooden catapults, the siege engines having been build in their main camp and brought here. He realized that he could have brought them up earlier to lob stones on these rhinos to break up their lines but he pushed the thought apart since it would mean to acknowledge that he had failings. Which he didn't. He was Rattus, leader of the rat race and soon to be conqueror of that lush and fertile country called China.

"My lord, we have loaded two catapults with balls of tar and hay which we will light on fire before shooting them to the enemy lines so we can see the effect of our gas." Chokar rasped."

"Very good. Fire!" he shrieked his order to the catapult crews and they hit the levers that lobbed the glass shells and burning tar to the rhino lines.

The projectiles impacted, the tar balls falling a bit short but close enough to illuminate the rhino line. The glass bulbs, a lot lighter than the tar, flew true, hitting some of the rhinos who didn't even twitch, making Rattus nervous and suspicious. He watched but not a single rhino even moved, the gas seemingly ineffective.

"What's going on?" he asked Chokar. "Why aren't they reacting?"

"They should. They should at least feel some discomfort." Chokar shrugged.

"More light! Fire!" Rattus shouted to the catapult crews and four more burning tar balls flew towards the pass, along with the gas projectiles that had been loaded on other catapults, the crews blindly following his fire order.

He watched as the fireballs hit the enemy line head on and saw several rhinos collapse and burn. The fire spread to other enemies who never moved or even made the attempt to put out the fire burning on their legs and chests. With a shock, he realized that the enemy blocking the pass was made of wood, fooling him and his forces into not doing a night attack.

"The enemy is not real." Rattus shrieked to several nearby companies who were standing close together. "Attack at once!"

Blindly following his order, the rats began charging towards the narrow pass, screaming in joy at the prospect of taking the position that had caused the death of numerous comrades of theirs and killing those still standing there. Rattus watched with glee as roughly one thousand rats stormed into the breach only to see them drop like flies as they ran into the gas cloud that was so lethal to his own race.

"Abort the attack!" he shrieked. "Wait for the gas cloud to disperse!"

An hour later, the fires of the tar balls had consumed itself and the gas cloud had dispersed enough not to be lethal anymore. Rattus knew that taking the pass would create glory for the leader of the troops doing it and it should be his right but he was also wary of the enemy lying in wait farther in, ready to gore any unsuspecting rat.

"Kleekus, take the second and third battalion and invade the pass." he ordered one of his underlings, one he mistrusted the least because that one had no initiative on his own.

"Yes, my lord." Kleekus bowed and moved to get the officers moving.

Rattus watched with glee as another three thousand rats entered the pass, this time not dying from gas or stopped by rhinos. His good mood was only shattered when he saw a dozens of flashes and heard and felt a rumbling under his feet.

* * *

Piccha was nervously pacing back and forth, waiting for the enemy to come. Although she had been told to immediately block the pass once the army had gone, she wanted to make the enemy pay for daring to invade her country and take his city. She knew that people viewed her as somewhat crazy but she didn't care.

She basked in her work and was proud of what she had achieved. When she had built her first bombs, a slight miscalculation in the amount of raw material that could be stored in one place without combusting had resulted in the destruction of her workshop and half of the street it had been on, along with the houses standing next to workshop. Unfortunately, one victim of her mistake had been a high-ranked government official close to the imperial court, so her only option of survival had been fleeing the city as fast as her small feet could carry him.

She had found a new home in Xinan where her tinkering had a loyal customer base, people who bought it to make mining easier or certain others that needed to alleviate pain. But now her city stood empty, its population fled before a numberless foe that threw its forces against their defenses with a wastefulness that belied common sense.

And while Piccha was usually a coward when it came to physical risk, this time she wanted payback.

Suddenly, she saw flames going up at the far end of the pass where the rhino dummies were standing. Not only light of flames but also a green fog were covering the area though she had no idea what that fog was. After a few minutes, the flames went out but soon enough, more fireballs landed, again illuminating the area but this time also setting some of the dummies on fire.

A piercing shriek carried over to her and she knew that the rats were attacking. Strangely, those shrieks soon faded and nothing more happened, making her wonder what had stopped the attack. She was fretting for an hour if she should blow the pass now and leave or wait but his decision was taken from her by another shriek from thousands of rodent throats before a slight vibration under her feet announced the movement of a lot of feet trampling on the ground.

She heard iron hitting wood and then more vibrations that got stronger and stronger until she could see shapes appear in the moonlit pass. With savage glee, she lit the fuses in the correct order, knowing that otherwise, the explosion of the first charges would put out the fuses for the ones further in the pass. Twenty seconds later, she lit the last fuses and began to move backwards, watching as the pass filled with thousands of furry bodies who were climbing over themselves to reach her side.

Almost at the same time, every single charge went off. Flashes of light pierced her eyes before an earsplitting boom hit her ears. At first she thought she had miscalculated the yield but then, even as the rats were stopping to get their bearings after being almost rendered unconscious by the noise, the stone began to crack loudly and collapse into the pass.

Within seconds, the shrieks of the rats had turned to panic and rodents were killing each other to escape. Yet none who had come far enough into the pass managed to get away. Apart from the rearguard who had just entered the pass, all the rats were killed, their panicked yells silenced one after the other as chunks of rock the size of boulders smashed them to paste.

With a gleeful cackle, Piccha turned around and hurried after the last convoy, eager to report the success of her bombs to the councilors who had put their faith into her. And maybe her actions would give him some latitude if her identity was ever found out by someone in the army that was assembling at the passes in the northeast.

* * *

 **I'm stopping here. Today was a holiday in Germany so I could write this. From tomorrow onward, my days will be packed with work again :(**

 **Still, review please :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**By the way, I'm switching back to the Imperial system for distances (since most of my readers are from the US), tired of looking up what is what in Chinese ^^**

 **Enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: Not mine**

* * *

"Wow, look at that scenery." Po said, waving his arm in a wide arc at the view.

"I agree, it's beautiful." Mantis agreed. "Hard to believe this will soon be a battlefield."

"General Lupina wasn't kidding, this pass will be hard for any attacker to take, even with superior numbers." Tigress interjected, already looking at the bigger picture.

They looked down the incline, seeing Tigress' point. After about nine hundred feet of a straight incline, the way up the pass began curving like a serpent, the mountain on one side and long way down on the other. Po could see tactical possibilities, not even just blocking the top of the pass but putting troops around the corner while archers shot down at or threw stones down the cliff on the rats who were on their way up.

But that would endanger the soldiers standing on the outermost left of the defensive line. One strong charge and the unlucky soldier would tumble down the cliff, crashing two hundred feet down into the line of rats still advancing up. Even though it gave the rats the change to charge up the pass, a strong counter-charge could make some of them tumble down the left side of the incline.

All the masters tried to find signs that their enemy was already on its way to the pass but nothing indicated the movement of a million individuals. Po couldn't decide if it was a good sign or a bad one. Good because they had more time to fortify the passes and bad because it might mean that the enemy was in the process of completely ravaging the southern lands.

"You look thoughtful." Tigress pointed out.

"Thinking." Po sighed and told them of his trepidation.

"I feel the same." Crane nodded. "Even though I abhor battle on this scale and this violence, I kinda wish it would come already so it would be over quickly."

"Maybe the forces stationed in Xinan managed to hold them at their pass?" Monkey mused just as General Lupina approached them.

"That's what we intend to find out." Lupina proclaimed and pointed to a large flock of eagles behind him. "I intend to send out scouts to find signs of the enemy. I also expect to hear about refugee convoys and we have to tell them to come here to the passes. But I doubt the Xinan forces managed to hold their pass. They're simply too few to hold a massive force at bay for long."

"General, if I may." Crane spoke up. "Can I accompany your scouts? If we find a convoy I could help defend them from bandits at least."

"That sounds great." Lupina nodded.

"I'll come with you." Viper added. "I have experience in administering medical help."

"We all will carry emergency packages." one of the eagles said, stepping forward.

"This is Colonel Aguila, head of the aerial scout division." Lupina introduced the eagle.

"We will fan out in a one hundred degree angle to the south and south-west." Aquila started. "Since the rats have apparently used the Xinan pass exclusively, we can assume that they either come here directly or fan out across the entire southern regions. Given the size of their force, they won't be moving fast."

"I'll take the direct route to Xinan." Crane said. "Any refugee convoys will use the main road."

"Agreed." Aquila nodded. "I'll send a few of my men with you. We can restock at the way stations I had ordered to be built. I will also send half a dozen to the northern tiger tribes to see how they are doing. According to the older female tiger back there, they are still fighting and tying up vast numbers of enemies."

"Even if they are losing, we couldn't send reinforcements anyway." Lupina added.

"Except us flying units." Aquila countered.

"True." Lupina admitted. "But sending two hundreds flying scouts won't help against thousands of enemies when the ground defenders are already on the verge of losing the battle."

"Don't you worry about the northern tribes." a new voice interjected, everybody seeing Tigress' mother approaching, her body back to what it had been before her two week spring to the Valley of Peace. "They will fight with the urgency of survival."

"Can they hold?"

"As long as the rats don't find away to dig through solid granite, the tigers can hold." Tigara stated. "There is only one pass into their territory and it's narrower than this. The tribes also produce their own food, so starvation is unlikely."

"You told us how you were held underground in caves the rats dug, so they seem to have some capabilities in digging." Po pointed out.

"Yes, but that was soft soil and not solid stone." Tigara countered.

"Colonel Aguila." Lupina stopped, just having realized something the eagle said before. "What way stations on the way?"

"I had ordered our forces to deploy way stations forward with food and medical supplies for fleeing refugee convoys."

"Nice initiative." Lupina nodded impressed.

"General, how is the preparation going?" Po asked.

"The camp is all but finished and our builders are beginning to carve out a gallery on top of the cliff side for our archers." Lupina replied.

"That was quick." Po said surprised.

"Our people are motivated to hurry. The finer points in the camp can be done later but preparing our positions is a lot more important." Lupina continued. "Even if the enemy takes longer to get here, I'd rather have our positions ready and sitting empty than not ready when we need them."

"You're a very good General." Mantis commented.

"Why, thank you." Lupina returned, somewhat amused. "The emperor wouldn't have given me command over his forces if I weren't."

"I think my fellow Master was referring to your efficiency." Monkey added.

"I started as Quartermaster of my first unit. I know how a camp should be set up to function properly."

Po walked back to the other side of the pass and watched the sprawling Imperial camp. A palisade wall was surrounding the main compound with thousands of tents erected outside of it that housed the forces defending this position. He could see rhinos and wolfs drill and the bandits they picked up on the way being trained in warfare.

He had some misgivings about that. Taking criminals and giving them a education in warfare could make them even worse after the fighting was done should they return to their thieving ways. But he also had to admit that they need every able body for the upcoming fight because even the best laid out position could be overrun by an enemy who seemed to have endless manpower.

To their credit, the former bandits worked hard to earn the trust of the regular soldiers. He guessed that getting proper meals and a regular pay helped profoundly with that change of heart from the early reluctance. Po just hoped that it would be enough. Hearing from Tigara how the bigger part of her species was wiped out mercilessly made him imagine how these rats would treat the other races in China.

Those thoughts made his other concerns return. He abhorred killing and he would have saved Lord Shen if that stubborn bird had allowed it by not attacking him. Even he knew that sometimes it couldn't be prevented but this new foe would force him to kill hundreds if not thousands of enemies.

"You look troubled." Tigress' voice broke through his reverie.

"I am." he conceded.

"Why?"

"I hate killing." Po sighed. "I hated it when I had to kill Shen, I hated it when we had to kill your own father. And now I might have to kill thousands of rats."

"A warrior's lot is hard." she said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "We do the hard things to the average folk doesn't have to."

"I know." Po groaned. "I still hate it. But it doesn't matter how I feel about it. I will fight as hard as I can to defend our home and our friends."

"I know you will." Tigress smiled at him. "And that dedication to what you believe is right is what made me fall in love with you."

Smiling, he took her hand. They turned back to the other end of the pass and stood at the edge of the cliff, where the pass curved into the first serpentine. Both watched the green mass of foliage stretching down and the scouts disappearing into the distance, Crane and Viper among them.

And hopefully, their enemy would still take a while to arrive. But when they did, he would fight them with all he had. Because Po knew that the more they died against their own lines, the less was the risk of any getting through and into the center of China.

* * *

"Can we repair it?" Tiganus asked the artisan looking at the ruined wagon wheel.

"Of course, but they are a bit harder to fix." the beaver pointed at two of the former occupants of the wagon, two female pigs, who were laying on the ground with broken legs.

"This will slow us down." Tiganus stated.

"What are you saying?" the female tiger counsiler, whose name he had finally learned was Pengana, wanted to know.

"I'm saying that in light of the urgency of our flight, we can't really afford to take them with us."

"Are you out of your mind?" Pengana hissed. "We don't leave people behind.

"They're just females." Tiganus shouted, causing the people around him to stop what they were doing and look at him in horror.

"If you don't like females, that's your problem. We're not leaving them here to be taken by those rats when they come here."

"Without me, you wouldn't have been able to flee." Tiganus growled. "I was the one warning you."

"And we are grateful for these extra two days you have us before the Imperial envoy came." Pengana returned without flinching. "But that doesn't mean that you are suddenly the leader of our people."

"You insolent wretch, I was..."

"Look up above. Fliers." someone shouted, stopping the argument between the two tigers.

They looked up and saw a flock of birds flying high in the air. Apparently they had seen the refugee convoy because the lead bird who was a crane with a strangely thick hat dove down to them, followed by the half-dozen eagles, only to land close to the two injured female pigs. Tiganus saw that the thick hat was actually a snake on the straw hat, a snake that uncoiled itself and slithered to the female pigs, pulling a medical package behind her.

"I'm Master Crane, this is Master Viper." the lead bird proclaimed. "We're here to look for refugee convoys.

"Well, you found one." Pengana chuckled without humor.

"You should head to the western pass. Our army will make its stand there." Crane continued. "We have set up way stations on this route where you can replenish your supplies."

"That will help." Pengana nodded. "Given our speed, it will take us at least another week to reach the pass."

"Where are you from? Do you know of any more convoys behind you?" Crane asked.

"We're from Xinan." Pengana told him. "We defended the pass for several days and then blew it up. That should have delayed the enemy for a while."

"From Xinan? I guess that rules out more large convoys." Crane nodded. "I will fly further to see if I can find the enemy or possible stragglers."

"I will stay with these two." Viper said and gave Crane a kiss on the beak. "Be careful."

"All done." the beaver proclaimed with a smile, pointing to the fixed wagon wheel.

"Alright, we should put the supplies on other wagons and transport the injured on the flat bed of this one." Pengana suggested.

"That would be best." Viper nodded. "The driver should also avoid pot holes. And you, tiger..."

"Are you talking to me?" Tiganus bristled.

"Yes." Viper returned. "Go fetch me four branches, at least half as thick as me and as straight as possible."

"I am Tiganus, leader of the tigers. I'm not sinking so low as to collect stuff from the ground."

"And I am Viper, Kung Fu Master from the Jade Palace. I don't care who you are, there are two wounded here that need help, so you will go." Viper retorted fearlessly, her demeanor making Tiganus comply with her demand, albeit with great reluctance.

And as he grabbed the branches that snake demanded, he made a mental note to add her to his list of enemies to kill later.

* * *

"How many?" Baribusa growled at the hooded rat standing next to him while looking at the bonfire in front of him.

"Fifty-eight thousand in all." Melkor replied.

"I don't care about the grunts, I want to know how many of my storm troopers died." Baribusa clarified.

"About five and a half thousand." Melkor told him. "Most during the fight for the pass."

"I had two thousand with me when I was injured and lost consciousness." Baribusa said. "Lets suppose they all died in that attack. Why did the other three and a half thousand die?"

"Rattus ordered general attack. He thought pressing on would bring victory but the enemy held firm. To aid the attack, he sent in two regiments of our elites." Melkor returned. "The other five hundred died when the enemy collapsed the pass, alongside another six thousand grunts, as you call them."

Baribusa ground his teeth at the waste of lives his Lord perpetuated. He didn't care about the lowly foot soldiers since they were easily replaced but his elite force, his storm troopers, were a different matter. It took at least two years of strict training and feeding programs to turn a specially bred rat into a storm trooper.

Not only that, only one in ten rats taken into the elite program survived the training to become a storm trooper. He knew that losses on the battlefield were normal and the training programs were well equipped enough to remedy the losses they usually had but losing almost four regiments was something that couldn't be rectified quickly.

"Not all of them are burning." Melkor interrupted his reverie.

"Why not?"

"Rattus wanted all the corpses to be processed the same way. He got away with around a thousand before you woke up and issued the cremation order."

Baribusa closed his eyes and took a deep breath, knowing that if he didn't, he would explode in rage. Their race was known for its habit of using the flesh of their slain comrades to feed the breeders so they would give birth to more rats more quickly. But after achieving his position, Baribusa had ordered that the corpses of his own elite forces were to be burned and not defiled by being filleted and consumed by their own females.

"I want him dead." Baribusa growled through clenched teeth as ever the direct one.

"That might be harder than you think." Melkor cautioned. "Rattus seems to suspect that someone is plotting against him and he has surrounded himself with his own guards."

"They are no match for my troops."

"True." Melkor nodded. "But you know our laws. Openly killing a rival or superior is forbidden and punished by death."

"Oh please." Baribusa scoffed. "I know you have murdered your way to where you are now."

"Maybe, maybe not." Melkor shrugged. "My point is, if you really want to kill him, you need to do it without witnesses. Otherwise you will be killed as well afterwards, no matter how much we supported your action. Plus, with your leg wound, you wouldn't stand a chance against his guards anyway."

Baribusa huffed as he heard that and gently rubbed his wound. He had to admit, Melkor was right, his injury made him more vulnerable than he cared to admit. Those enemies they had faced in the pass had been probably the toughest of all they had enountered before. Not even the striped felines, for all their ferocity, were so hard to kill. He had watched sword blows being turned away by shields or absorbed by armor. Even spear points hitting the skin of those gray ones had only pierced a very short distance before being stopped.

And to his admiration, they had defended the pass beautifully. Always rotating out the front line during lulls and always keeping a cohesive union had been a brilliant move. Not that they had simply stayed there. During the attack Baribusa had lead, the enemy had, against all expectations, sallied out in a counter-charge, scattering his forces and killing scores of his forces, even his own elites. He still could see the enemy's horn penetrating his leg and exiting on the other side before the shield had knocked him out.

"The pass will soon be cleared again." Rattus announced his arrival. "We'll soon be able to move and raze that city to the ground."

"We will not destroy the city." Baribusa stated calmly, turning to Rattus with a glare that caused the guards to raise their weapons.

"And why wouldn't we?" Rattus gnarled. "The inhabitants have resisted us for way too long and need to pay."

"If we find any, they will pay." Baribusa nodded. "But we need a base of operations and a fully erected and walled city is a lot better than a dirty camp dug into the ground."

"Fine." Rattus assented. "I already ordered the breeders to be brought forward so they can replenish our numbers closer to the front."

"Very well." Baribusa nodded and turned away from Rattus, using his sheathed sword as a cane.

He walked back to the pass, his own retinue falling in behind him, and watched as the last pieces of rubble were brought out of the pass, now wider since parts of the walls were blown off now. Troops were already marching through and Baribusa walked next to them, watching regiment after regiments of lowly foot soldiers pass by on their way to the city beyond the pass.

"Get to the front and tell them that the city's infrastructure is not to be damaged." he told one of his retinue who then sped off to tell the officer in front of Baribusa's order.

Given his injured leg, it took him several hours to get through the pass and across the plain beyond but eventually, the walls of the city came into view. He noticed that the walls were not as high as he had expected but the city itself was fairly big, which would give them the necessary room for barracks, smithies and foundries.

He saw the slave rats already digging the underground lairs they would need to plant the mushrooms and algae to feed their troops. Upon reaching the open city gates, he saw the troops mingling about in confusion, not really knowing what to do. It took him a few moments before noticing the complete lack of sounds of fighting, making him aware of the reason for his troop's confusion.

"Where are all the inhabitants?" he asked a passing lowly officer.

"So far we haven't found any." the officer replied. "The city appears to be empty."

"That explains why they abandoned the defense of the pass." Baribusa nodded. "They gave the populace time to leave the city and possibly take everything of value with them. I don't expect to find any food stores that aren't unspoiled."

"General, what's going on here?" Rattus asked, closing in on him, the cage with his tiger captive being wheeled in behind him. "Where is everybody?"

"The city is empty." Baribusa told him the obvious. "The populace has left."

"How can the people of a city this large leave completely?" Rattus was incredulous. "They must have old people and kids with them."

"Well, they had enough time, hadn't they." Baribusa scoffed. "With the enemy holding that pass for days and then collapsing it, which took another week to dig out again."

"Can we still catch them?"

"No." Baribusa shook his head.

"You're pretty sure." Rattus squinted his eyes.

"They have a weeks head start. We would have to send our fastest units after them and if they reach the refugees, our troops would be far too exhausted to fight a battle against the same foes that held tens of thousands of us at bay for several days."

"I put this directly on you." Rattus cursed. "Fail again and I will have your head and replace you with a a more capable General."

"You little..." Baribusa started but checked himself. "Yes, Lord." he ground out through clenched teeth.

Baribusa watched Rattus stalk off, his bodyguards behind him. Waiting until his lord was out of sight, Baribusa punched a wooden stall next to him, shattering it apart with the blow. He used his sheathed sword like a club, shattering the stall completely apart, thereby ignoring his own order of no destruction, yet everybody who saw him knew not to say anything. Once he had calmed down enough, he looked around and saw the striped feline in the cage smirking at him.

"What are you grinning at." he almost shouted at the captive, stomping towards the cage.

"You." the tiger returned without any sign of fear. "How you have to suck up to that little snot."

"Why you little..." Baribusa growled but stopped himself again since he needed her. "Do you want to see him dead?"

"Not just see him dead, I want to kill him myself." Lyanna returned, jumping against the cage bars and even intimidating Baribusa a little.

"Then we might have a common goal." Baribusa whispered and pushed a key into the cage. "When the time comes, you can use this to get free and take your revenge. You will have to get past his bodyguards but none of my elite forces will stop you. I will make sure of that."

"Thank you." Lyanna said surprised and hid the key inside her fur, then saw large wagons rolled into the city, huge rats chained on top of them, several of the elite rats lining up behind them along with a lot of of the smaller ones. "What's that?"

"Those are our breeders." Baribusa revealed, strangely open about it. "The source of our numbers. Each of them can produce between fifty and a hundred offspring a week. And we have hundreds of them."

"They don't look happy." Lyanna commented dryly as she watched one of the breeders snatch up a rat slave and devouring it greedily.

"They're neither happy nor sad." Baribusa shrugged. "They don't think like you or I. They have only one job."

"And what are they doing?" she pointed to the rats climbing on the wagons and on the breeders themselves.

"What they have to." Baribusa chuckled and walked away.

Lyanna watched both in horror and revulsion as the male rats began mating with the female rats. She knew how it looked, having experienced it as well while being held in chains but to watch it out in the open while the other rats didn't care a bit was quite something else. To add to her revulsion, when the first rats were done, more climbed onto the wagons to mate with the the females as well, to what end she didn't know.

She doubted she even wanted to know. But for now, she had a way to take her revenge on that little rat who had chained her up and treated her like his little exhibit.

* * *

 **Well, had a holiday today. Gave me time to write this.**

 **Review please :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**To the guest who said this story should be changed to an M-rating: Why?**

 **To other readers. Do you think this story should be changed to M? While I do describe acts of violence, I don't do it to excess, do I?**

 **Enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: Not mine**

* * *

"Move, you runts!" Baribusa shouted as the rats drilled their battle choreography, stabbing and slashing while their opposites blocked. "Attack, block, counterattack!"

Still limping from his massive leg wound, he hobbled across the field, watching as the current litters trained to become soldiers even though that was too good of a word. He had only disdain for these small rodents, not worthy of being anything more than cannon fodder. He looked over to his storm troopers, who trained with a precision that made him proud, every one of those rats tall and strong and clad in armor and carrying well made weapons.

After getting the breeders to this new location, the handlers had slacked off, allowing their charges to eat several of the newborn litters. While a breeder could churn out fifty or more rats in one birth, they were completely devoid of anything besides the need to feed. Food that included their newborns since the only thing breeders had was a sense of smell and the smell of fresh meat drove them to any measures to get it.

Baribusa growled under his breath. His fool of a lord had allowed the squandering of several thousand of his storm troopers. They had taken the biggest of the new litters and brought them to the special rooms where they were tested and fed with the special food and drugs that would enhance their growth rate and strength.

Only one in ten of them would survive the ordeals to become a storm trooper. Which meant that Baribusa had to take fifty thousand of the already large newborn rats and put them into the special training just to make up for the losses his storm troopers had incurred at the pass alone. He watched the other trainers use their whips as encouragements, a few of them getting bitten in return by especially aggressive new rats.

"General?" an aide came to him.

"Speak!" Baribusa ordered.

"General Korgana has returned from the northern battlefields as you ordered."

"Bring him to my tent at once." Baribusa ordered and limped towards his tent where another tall rat was led inside by the aide.

"General." Korgana nodded to Baribusa when the latter entered.

"General." Baribusa returned, then turned to the aides. "Leave us!"

"What happened to you?" Korgana pointed to Baribusa's leg after the aides had left.

"One of these damn rhinos gored me with his horn." Baribusa sighed and stuck out his arm. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise." Korgana nodded and grasped his arm in a soldierly greeting. "Why did you pull me from the northern battlefields? The felines there aren't beaten yet and Snikkar won't be able to do it."

"You don't trust his abilities?" Baribusa asked.

"No." Korgana shook his head. "He's way too impulsive and reactive. His tactical skills are limited to frontal assault and if that doesn't work, more frontal assault."

"You hadn't had much success there with your tactics." Baribusa pointed out.

"Given the terrain, that's hardly my fault. We can't dig through the mountains and the two passes are so narrow that they can defend against all our numbers with a hundred of them. We can't even use catapults, the incline is simply too steep. With their range, the points where we had to bring them too would cause them to roll down the hill, no matter how well we try to fasten them."

"Do you consider the battle winnable?"

"Under the current condition? No." Korgana replied truthfully. "If we bring our entire military force to bear, maybe we can wear them down but that would require constant attacking over several days. The only other possibility is some invention that can kill them from afar."

"You have archers, have you not?"

"They're no good." Korgana shook his head. "The headwind in the passes is way too strong and in those instances where it lets up, we can maybe kill a few tigers if they aren't fast enough in raising their shields. That reminds me, Snikkar asked if he could get more reinforcements."

"How many is he asking for?"

"Two hundred thousand."

"He can have ten thousand and twenty breeders. If he loses them, he might as well kill himself in the last charge." Baribusa growled.

"Can I imply from these words that you won't send me back?"

"No, I have a different task for you." Baribusa told him. "You're my litter-mate and since my injury makes it currently impossible to move with my troops, you're the only one I trust with it."

"What is it?"

"I need you to lead our force against the enemy to our north-east." Baribusa pointed to the map on the table. "While the enemy who fled from here managed to take away or destroy most documents, we found this map in an old cellar."

"What am I looking at?" Korgana asked.

"We're here." Baribusa pointed to a spot on the map. "You see this mountain range? That's the entrance to the bulk of the country we're fighting to conquer. The southern regions are sparsely populated and given how the population of this city has fled, I expect to find only a few people there."

"If I were the enemy, I would defend here." Korgana pointed to the passes. "Passes, always passes. I'm really beginning to hate them. I want battles on open plains where we can bring our numbers to bear."

"Tell me about it. Rattus lost me five thousand of my storm troopers at the last one."

"There's only one feasible crossing for us and that is the western pass, here." Korgana pointed to the left pass. "The easternmost is way too narrow for any form of large troop movements and the middle one is only marginally wider."

"You can be sure that the enemy knows it too." Baribusa said.

"How large a force will I be commanding?" Korgana asked.

"I give you four hundred and fifty thousand troops, along with two thousand of my storm troopers. Use them well." Baribusa told him. "Your orders are to move your force to the pass, establish a new base camp there a few miles away and begin the attack. When we're done with training the current batch, we will follow you and relocate our breeders there."

"Aren't you afraid of enemy sorties?"

"No, they can't attack in enough strength to destroy us." Baribusa shook his head.

"How can you be sure?"

"Because according to this map, the pass is high. So the way up to it will snake up the mountain in a serpentine. A large force would never be able to come down without being spotted or heard."

"The same can be said for any attacking force. The enemy will see us coming very early."

"Just keep shields over your heads and any arrow salvo will do little damage."

"It's not arrows I'm worried about." Korgana sighed. "At the northern battlefields, the tigers used boulders to smash our attacks into pieces. At that pass, it would be even worse since they could roll them down the cliff sides and they would smash through several lines."

"Unfortunately, we don't really have another choice. The mountains are too hard to dig through."

"Why do we fight anyway?" Korgana mused quietly to avoid being heard by anyone possibly standing outside. "If we conquer the southern lands and then fortify the areas below the passes, we have a large area to settle our people in relative security. I doubt the north will attack us given our numbers and if we secure the pass you went through to get here, we're also secured from the west."

"You know why." Baribusa sighed. "Our oh-so illustrious leadership doesn't want to content itself with just the south. Also, our growth rate would soon outstrip the space."

"So is that it?" Korgana returned. "We fight until we have conquered everything?"

"I don't know if that's what the council wants." Baribusa growled. "They haven't shared their ultimate goal with anyone, I doubt even Rattus knows. All we know is that we have to conquer the fertile lands to the north so we can grow our numbers large enough to take back our ancestral homes."

"Is that even possible?" Korgana asked and hammered his fist on the depiction of China on the map. "We lost ninety percent of our people during the last war. And now we're throwing even more away in trying to conquer this land."

"I don't know." Baribusa admitted. "But we have no other choice. They have revenge in their hearts after we attacked them and if they follow us here, our entire species will perish. And even though the way we prevent that will hurt us even more, I won't allow that to happen."

"Spoken like a true rat, brother." Korgana smiled and clasped his litter-mate's arm.

"Come on, you need to move out." Baribusa waved him out of the tent and together, they walked towards the waiting troops where the storm trooper officer in charge bowed to the two Generals.

"The army is ready, my lords." the officer said.

"Very well." Baribusa nodded. "Until I'm able to retake command, General Korgana will lead the army. Obey him like you would obey me."

"Your will, my lord." the trooper bowed to Baribusa first and then Korgana.

Baribusa watched as his brother gave the order to move. The army began to move, a wave of bodies that once in motion would be hard to stop, the stomping of a million feet in unison a balsam to his ears. It took half a day before the last units had left the city and Baribusa marveled at the relative silence that came when almost half a million less people were suddenly not there anymore.

He thought his brother's words. It was true, they could easily settle in the southern lands and defend them from any enemy but when he thought about the enemy that had almost destroyed their race, he couldn't suppress a shiver of fear. He had seen and experienced carnage on a scale that dwarfed anything they had done here yet. And the thought of the old enemy coming after them filled him with so much dread, he laid into the new troops, vowing to himself to make them a fighting force that could defeat anything.

* * *

"May the gods receive your souls. You're in a better place now." Viper finished intoning the prayer for the four dead they had just buried before turning away in sadness.

"Beautiful words." Pengana said, walking beside her. "Don't beat yourself up over this. Death is part of life."

"But not when it comes too soon." Viper returned as they rejoined the refugee convoy that had already moved on.

Viper sighed in exhaustion. During the last five days, they had lost almost a thousand people to injuries that couldn't be treated on the move, or diseases they incurred when eating something they shouldn't have or drinking spoiled water. The medical supplies she brought with them were gone and the food situation was dire.

On their way, they had moved through and past several small villages and hamlets, picking up the inhabitants, at least those who believed them and were willing to leave their home, swelling their convoy by several hundred people plus their belongings and supplies they could spare. Since the season was just shy of turning to spring, food supplies were generally low, with planting season having not even started yet.

"We're grateful that you stayed behind to help." Pengana said to her, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"It's the least I can do. We are committed to protecting life." Viper returned.

"But we will soon be forced to kill."

"To save others. It's a dilemma every warrior faces." Viper said. "We have accepted that duty, even though it pains us."

"Lets hope that it will be enough, given what is coming." Pengana sighed.

"By the way, what's with him?" Viper asked, pointing to Tiganus, who was stumbling around. "I have noticed several times now that he doesn't seem to like you."

"He's a cretin." Pengana scoffed. "He's the son of a now dead leader of several tiger tribes and had to find his tribe in tatters after another tiger and her mate killed his father. He had to flee like everyone else before the enemy and I'm sure he still harbors illusions of grandeur, a desire to return the tigers to their former glory."

"I think, one of my fellow masters might be the one you're talking about." Viper said surprised. "Master Tigress and her mate, Master Po, have recently returned from their trip to the tiger country to find out about her past and she was forced to kill her father to avoid a war."

"That would make Tiganus her brother. Funny how things turn out, isn't it?" Pengana chuckled sadly. "Avoid one war just to find yourself in an even bigger one."

"Can I ask, how did you came to be in the city you fled from?"

"I was part of the Kum-Taron tribe and like every other tribe in the jungle, our leaders embraced the dogma of keeping the females locked up and only for procreation." Pengana recounted. "One day, a female tiger came into our holding cells, killed our guards and freed me along with two other females, leading us out of the camp. From there, she brought us over the border and to the city."

"She freed only you and two others? What about the other females?" Viper interrupted.

"By that time, me and the other two were the only females left. Our leaders had embraced the dogma so much that every female cub born was killed immediately."

"But that would have destroyed your tribe within another generation!"

"I know." Pengana nodded sadly. "Anyway, the other two females, both older than me, died soon after from their ordeals. I chose to stay in town and become a part of the community. I achieved a seat on the city council and the rest, as we say, is history."

"It's a black mark on history." Tiganus slurred as he closed in on them. "Women have no place in positions of power. Their only role is to give birth to more males."

"Oh shut up, you ridiculous male." Pengana huffed in exasperation, several other females close by turning in anger at the words shouted, and watching Tiganus drool a pink substance. "What the hell did you eat?"

"I think he ate those berries." Viper chuckled and pointed her tail to the bushes at the roadside. "They are not for eating. Great for soothing pain when used as a poultice. In some species, they cause nausea, in others, an effect that resembles intoxication."

"Obey my words." Tiganus drooled on and tried to hit Pengana with his paw.

He never got even close. Quick as the snake she was, Viper jumped on him, wrapping her body around his and grabbing his wrist with her tail. She used it to repeatedly punch him with his own paw, not stopping even after a drop of blood flew away. Only when she heard a faint crack did she stop and uncurled herself again.

"You slithering little..." Tiganus started as he fought himself to his feet again.

"You missed a spot." Pengana interrupted him and punched Tiganus squarely into the face, completely breaking off the already weakened canine tooth.

Tiganus fell down, howling in pain and lay in a whimpering heap, holding his mouth closed with a streak of blood running through his fingers. As Pengana and Viper continued walking, the other tigers looked on indecisively, torn between the dogma they were raised with and the visible proof that females could be stronger than males.

Pengana peeked backwards to gauge their reaction. To her surprise and delight, fully half of the tigers continued moving on, while the other half stood there, unsure of that to do. Ultimately, only five tigers went to their leader to help him up, the implications of that behavior not lost on Pengana. And if Tiganus hadn't been distracted by pain and intoxication, he would have noticed it too.

Two days later, they reached the base of the pass. Only a serpentine away from relative safety.

* * *

"General, some of the scouts are returning!" a lower officer informed Lupina, who was leaning over a large map of the passes and the southern regions with the Masters around him.

Po looked around and saw a dozen eagles converge on them from several directions, Crane and Viper not among them. They landed awkwardly and staggered as if drunk before Po realized that they were most like exhausted beyond measure from their long flights. Lower rank soldiers hurried to them, handing them food and water while Colonel Aguila walked up to them, bearing himself with poise despite his own exhaustion.

"General, we have completed the flyover of most of the regions as well as the tiger enclave in the mountains to the far west of here." Aguila announced himself.

"Report." Lupina nodded, pointing to the map.

"No signs of enemy activity to the direct south of here." Aquila began, taking a few stones to place them on the map. "To the southwest, we found signs of massive troop movements coming directly from Xinan. Masters Crane and Viper with their group have found a large refugee convoy coming here. Master Viper decided to stay with them to care for the wounded while Master Crane and a few of my scouts kept going to get a more accurate measurement of the enemy."

"There's Crane." Monkey interjected, pointing to the pass where the aforementioned Master was landing and collapsing in exhaustion, together with half a dozen ragged looking eagles.

"Crane!" Po shouted and ran over to his friend, picking him up. "What happened."

"Had to... come here... to tell you." Crane gasped for breath and was handed water and food.

"Take your time." Lupina said as Po sat him down at the map table.

"When we flew over the city, the rat forces haven't yet moved away from Xinan." Crane began. "By the looks of it, they have made it their main base. We have seen thousands upon thousands of rats train and drill on the plains around the city. A lot more rats were arrayed for march though we have no idea if they are on the move already."

"We have to assume that they are." Lupina nodded. "Nobody in their right mind arrays tens of thousands of troops to let them stand there for hours on end. Colonel Aguila, can your scouts who had accompanied Master Crane give us a rough estimate of the enemy numbers that were arrayed for march?"

"I'll ask." Aquila nodded and walked over to where his scouts were recuperating.

"Crane, did you see the convoy that Viper stayed with?" Tigress asked, concerned for her friend.

"The road curves a bit away before coming towards the pass, so if they are still on their way, they might be on that part. We didn't see them coming here." Crane told them.

"My scouts say, the estimated numbers of enemies arrayed for march was around four hundred thousand." Aquila proclaimed upon his return, bringing the people around the table to stunned silence.

"Four hundred thousand?" Lupina stammered. "Are they sure?"

"They are pretty confident. This number doesn't include the units in training." Aquila returned.

"Alright." Lupina sighed and rubbed his eye patch, getting the itch he always got before a tough fight. "The pass is wide enough for a hundred rhinos to stand shoulder to shoulder. Our forces contain ten thousand of them, which means, we have ten rotations for a blocking force that stands ten soldiers deep."

"I know they have though skins but will their small shields be enough to protect them?" Po asked, pointing at two of the rhinos who were drilling.

"Don't worry, Dragon Warrior, we have other means for exactly the kind of fight we're expecting." Lupina smiled and snipped his fingers to a high ranking officer to his right that had only one arm who then pointed to an aide who approached with a huge shield in his hands. "These are the shields we will give our troops."

"Wow, they're are almost as high as me." Po commented, hefting the bent rectangular shield to test it out.

"They are called tower shields." the rhino officer explained. "Only the rhino's heads will be visible above them. They will also be wearing heavy armor and enclosed helmets to protect their heads."

"These grooves at the side are for their spears to stick through?" Mantis asked, jumping on the shield Po was holding.

"Correct." the rhino nodded. "They also have broad hooks at one side and a latch on the other, so two shields next to each other can be interlocked. Makes it harder for any force to simply shove through in between two shields."

"Ingenious design." Po said impressed. "I guess the rhinos have to stand a little staggered to allow the second row to use their weapons."

"That's correct." Lupina nodded. "The second row will use longer spears so they can attack enemies that are in front of the shield wall by thrusting it over them.

"Do we have any information on the offensive capabilities of the enemy?" Monkey asked. "What weapons do they use, how strong are they, do they wear armor, these sort of things?"

"No, unfortunately not." Lupina shook his head. "I'm hoping that the surviving troops that come with that refugee convoy from Xinan can shed some light on these things. Otherwise, we're pretty much flying blind."

"Luckily, their numbers won't mean much in a straight up fight, given the terrain." Po remarked. "As long as we can rotate out exhausted soldiers and replace them with fresh ones, we should be able to hold out."

"I already ordered the rhino forces to practice replacement. Which includes training for the possibility of a rhino in the front rank dying. Another will have to come forward to take its place before the shield wall collapses." Lupina added.

"That also assumes that the enemy doesn't have long range capabilities that can hurt a fully armored rhino." Tigress interjected. "Like catapults."

"We have seen none." Crane told them. "But that doesn't mean that they wouldn't build them once they are here."

"General, if such armor is available, why don't the rhinos use them at any time?" Mantis wanted to know.

"Way too heavy and cumbersome." Lupina replied. "Moving around, especially for long marches would tire even the rhinos out too quickly. This armor is only good for defensive action like we're about to have soon."

"General, the scouts report that there's a refugee convoy approaching." an aide announced after running over to the planning table.

The Masters and the General rushed out of the command tent and through the pass, quickly overcoming the distance where the road had its first curve and the cliff plunged downwards. The group stopped at the edge and peered down, seeing the long column of wagons and walking people begin the climb up to the pass.

Everybody knew that it would take a long time because the convoy moved slowly and it had to traverse seven hairpin turns to get up the serpentine to the pass. Crane flew back into camp and returned with a pack slung over his body containing supplies and medicine, then launched himself to shoot down towards the convoy like an arrow.

"Every scout not on duty, grab a supply kit and follow Master Crane!" Lupina ordered, shouting at his aides who relayed his order to the eagles in the camp, who soon flew down to the convoy, two of them carrying medical orderlies who could help the wounded.

Tigress looked at Po to ask him about his opinion when she noticed him squinting his eyes to stare into the far distance. Her eyesight being better, she followed his gaze and tried to see what had caused him to stare, not seeing anything. She was just about to ask him when she noticed his eyes glowing, telling her without words that he was using his Chi sight.

"By the gods." she gasped when she did the same.

Since their Chi sight was unencumbered by trees and other blockages, she saw a gigantic mass of life forces closing in on them. She averted her gaze and looked at the convoy, noticing a lot less concentration but it was strung out a long way. She turned and looked at the camp where the forty thousand soldiers plus the orderlies and other camp personnel were waiting for action and a lot less concentrated life force as well.

"General." she got the wolf's attention.

"Yes?" Lupina turned to them and noticed their eyes glowing. "What's wrong with your eyes?"

"We're using the Chi sight." Po explained. "With it, you can see life force even through obstacles like mountains or trees."

"And we're seeing the enemy approaching." Tigress finished.

"Can you tell how many?" Lupina wanted to know.

"Lets just say, the figure of four hundred thousand may not even be enough." Po sighed and his eyes returned to normal. "At this rate, they will be here within a week."

"Colonel Aguila!" Lupina shouted.

"Sir?" Aquila came over.

"Send some of your scouts to the west-southwest." Lupina ordered. "The enemy is coming. I need numbers and dispositions. Type of enemy, weapons and so on."

"Yes, General." Aquila nodded and flew to his scouts, who weren't with the convoy.

Po watched the eagles fly off and hoped they would come back with news that could be considered good. Because after seeing the amount of living beings coming closer, Po doubted there was anything in the world that could stop that army.

* * *

 **So, the enemy is almost at the gates, so to speak. Lets see what will happen ^^**

 **Review please :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**You want to know something weird? A few nights before writing this, I had a bout of insomnia and as I was lying in my bed at three in the morning, dead tired with a pounding headache and unable to sleep, I took my tablet and decided to read a little KFP fanfiction so I might get tired. I perused the offers and found a story called A Tiger's Journey and despite the fact that it sounded familiar, it took my sleep-deprivated mind until chapter 3 before I realized I was reading my own story -.-**

 **Random Reviewer1: Nice to see you again, thought you had stopped reading my story ^^**

 **My instance of total mental dysfunction notwithstanding, enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: Not mine**

* * *

"My game." Lyanna smiled as she moved her stone.

"For the love of..." Baribusa growled in frustration, having lost another game.

When still recuperating from his leg injury, he had explored the city his forces had conquered and found several boards with black and white stones in a basement. Since he had only rudimentary knowledge of the written characters, he had asked his Lord's feline captive who had told him that it was a game of strategy and tactics.

Eager to test his skills, he had made her explain the rules of the game to him and then they had played. He had quickly gotten the hang of it, the goal to capture the stones of the opponent by surrounding them but to his great chagrin, that infuriating tiger had outsmarted him in every game. It didn't matter if he won the first move or not, at the end, the captive had always more stones or more territory that gave her enough points to win.

He had another reason for visiting the captive regularly, even trusting her so far as not having her shackled while sitting across her and even giving her more food than Rattus did, who had been strangely absent lately. In her, he recognized a fellow warrior, a kindred spirit as far as that was possible with a member of a different species. There was only one single other warrior of his own kind that he had the same bond with and that one was currently in the east, setting up camp and preparing the first assault on the enemy in the pass.

"Can I ask you something?" Lyanna asked.

"Go ahead." Baribusa nodded.

"Why did you come here?"

"To play this game. I need the distraction."

"I don't mean here in my cell." Lyanna corrected. "I mean here in China. Somehow I doubt your leaders have simply decided to move thousands of miles east just for the fun of it."

"Your doubt is validated." Baribusa nodded, feeling strangely open about the shame of his race. "We were forced out of our lands."

"How?"

"Because of our own hubris. When our numbers got bigger than ever before, we thought of our race as superior to our neighbors. We had always lived mostly below ground and in wary coexistence with other species but twenty years ago, some of our alchemists concocted a potion that made our females more fertile." Baribusa told her. "But it had the side effect that it made them feral."

"You mean they weren't always like the ones I have seen?" Lyanna interrupted.

"No, they used to be smaller and able to talk like you and me." Baribusa explained. "But now, they are bloated abominations that require constant guard and eat anything that gets into their claws. And all that in exchange for more numbers that also need to be fed."

"So what made you leave your home?"

"As I said, our hubris. As our numbers grew, we had to get more territory to grow the food we needed to feed our people. So we did what our leaders wanted. We attacked our neighbors."

"And you didn't consider trade instead of war?" Lyanna wondered.

"Some did. But our leaders didn't. There is a phrase I know that says 'When all the world is overcharged with inhabitants, then the last remedy is war, which provides for everyone by victory or death." Baribusa said. "In this case, it was only our strip of land but the basics are the same. We had a massive problem of overpopulation and our leaders viewed war as the solution."

"I take it, it didn't go well."

"It did at first. We swept over our enemies like a flood, destroying their villages and using their bodies as food for our ever hungry females. That was our second mistake." Baribusa sighed.

"The second?" Lyanna raised an eyebrow. "What was the first?"

"Our first mistake was underestimating them, thinking them weak because we scored some early victories."

"Who were these enemies?"

"We never learned what they called themselves. They had soft, pink skin and little fur apart from on their face and head. But their warriors were tall and strong and could swing heavy weapons that not even I could with two hands while wearing heavy armor that weighed more than me." Baribusa described them. "We pushed out towards the west into their lands and destroyed more villages until we came upon a larger town that was protected by a wall. We had no way of scaling the walls without building ladders before so we surrounded the city and tried to starve them out."

"And?"

"Two months later, a massive enemy force arrived." Baribusa remembered. "I was a lowly officer at the time. We had no idea there were so many of them. One moment, we were about to attack the city, the next we heard horns blaring and them coming over he hill to the west of us. It was slaughter. Two million of us died."

"Didn't you try to make peace with them?" Lyanna interjected.

"As I understood it, our leaders tried at that point. But when the enemy learned that we had fed their slain to our females, they were enraged. Something to do with their beliefs and burial rituals." Baribusa shrugged. "But they attacked immediately. A force even larger than the one that had broken our siege flooded into our lands. Nothing we tried could stop them. One enemy slew five hundred of us before he went down. And their elite troops were so massively armored from head to toe that nothing we had could kill them."

"And how did you come to leave?"

"They found out our weakness when they entered our lairs." Baribusa recalled. "We heard the death screams of our females and knew that we had lost. So we took the breeders that were still alive, split our host in two and fled. We left as many soldiers as we could behind to block them for as long as possible and went east while the others went north."

"But how did you turn from a fleeing people into another conquering force?"

"Our leaders decided that when our numbers had regrown." Baribusa told her. "Since I had some successes on the battlefield, I was made leader of the military force of our host."

"So basically, you made a mistake in the past that cost you your homeland and now you are repeating that mistake by waging another indiscriminate war." Lyanna stated.

"I know." Baribusa nodded. "Me and others would be perfectly fine with making peace and settle here in the southern lands. But our leaders aren't."

"Who the hell are these leaders?"

"We call them the shadow council." Baribusa shrugged. "Nobody really knows who they are or even where they meet. They hand their orders down to the clan leaders who then follow them."

"So Rattus is not your leader?"

"He's the first among the clan leaders and fancies himself a military genius. But even he is afraid of the shadow council."

"Your race is weird." Lyanna smirked but anything else was stopped when another officer stepped into the cell.

"General, the troops are ready." the officer announced.

"Very well, I will be out soon." Baribusa nodded and the other officer left.

"More training?" Lyanna scoffed.

"No, that is finished." Baribusa shook his head. "Today we march east to the passes to reinforce Korgana."

Lyanna watched him leave and thought about what she had learned. There was more to these rats than met the eye and when she got out of her cell and back to her kind, she needed to convince her fellow people to try to find and eliminate this shadow council. Otherwise, this war might never end.

* * *

"You're back!" Po and Crane greeted Viper at the same time, the latter hugging the snake in his wings.

"It's good to be back." Viper sighed into Crane's embrace.

"How was it?" Tigress, who had approached them as well, wanted to know.

"It was a difficult time." Viper sighed, clearly fighting back tears. "We lost a lot of the refugees to injury, hunger and disease."

"Did you evacuate the villages on the way too?" Po asked, hoping that it wouldn't be too insensitive to get her on topic.

"Everyone who was willing to leave came with us. Too many decided to stay." Viper replied sadly.

The masters watched the refugee convoy roll past. Many dozens of wagon and thousands of weary civilians trudged through the pass and to the camp where they were met by medical staff and orderlies handing out food and water. Some refugees fell to their knees in gratitude, both to the people helping them and to the gods for getting them here alive.

It took several hours for the entire convoy to get past and the majority of the military units came at the very end. He saw tired rhinos, flanks crusted with badly healed wounds, speaking of an awful battle already fought. He was surprised to see about a hundred male tigers accompanying them, carrying weapons, and one regal looking tiger leading them, although even he was starved.

"You!" the tiger leader shouted and came running towards them.

"Do I know you?" Po asked.

"You!" the shout came again and Po was shocked when the tiger practically flew at Tigress, only to be stopped by Po's paw smashing against his chest.

"What is wrong with you?" Po inquired, seeing the tiger fighting himself upright, hunger written on his face while his troops looked wearily at the confrontation.

"I am her brother, Tiganus. And she was the one who killed my father." Tiganus said as he got back up, swaying on his feet.

"He tried to kill my love and to enslave me." Tigress retorted, without showing any emotion towards her brother. "What choice did I have?"

"You should have followed your status and submitted." Tiganus growled.

"Oh shut up already!" another female voice growled before the person it belonged to slapped her paw against Tiganus' head. "Hello, my name is Pengana. Since our leader died during our trek here, I'm the new chief counselor of Xinan and this convoy."

"Welcome." an approaching Lupina greeted her. "I'm General Lupina, Supreme Commander of the Chinese armies. Can you give us any information on the enemies' military capabilities?"

"It's better to ask the leader of our rhino force, they have defended the Xinan pass for several days." Pengana pointed to one of the rhinos, beckoning him over. "This is Major Hakar."

"Major." Lupina nodded to the rhino, who saluted when seeing who had addressed him.

"General, sir."

"At ease soldier." Lupina said. "Tell us about the enemy. What weapons do they have, do they have siege weapons and so on."

"The enemy has a few archers but their arrows were unable to penetrate our armor or shields and when they hit us, they didn't go in deep enough to cause terminal injuries. I have seen no catapults or other siege weapons and the enemy was mostly attacking us head on with badly equipped forces." Hakar told them. "But they also have an elite corps of troops, larger built then the majority and a lot better trained and equipped."

"How many of these elites are there, do you know?" Lupina asked.

"No, but they have used them a lot less against us than the regular forces, so my guess is that there aren't that many."

"Very well soldier." Lupina nodded. "Go back to your troops and get something to eat and some rest."

"Yes, General." the rhino nodded.

"How many of the tigers can use bow and arrow?" Lupina asked both Pengana and Tiganus.

"A few, why?" Tiganus returned.

"If they're willing, they are to be in the cliff dugouts, shooting at the enemy as they charge. The others should stay behind the rhino phalanx, ready to sortie out should the opportunity arise."

"Why should my tigers join the defense?" Tiganus scoffed, bristling at the wolf's tone.

"Because if you decide that neither should help, you can turn around and try to survive on your own." Lupina returned, his one eye blazing with barely contained anger at Tiganus' petulant behavior.

"Fine." Tiganus assented, teeth clenched.

He watched as Pengana walked towards his waiting troops and laid out Lupina's suggestion. To his great chagrin, all but five tigers nodded and headed to the main camp to get supplies and new weapons. And those five tigers were the ones who had sustained injuries on their trek, severe enough to prevent them from fighting anyway.

He looked at his sister, that infuriating female who had killed her father. He might have tried again to fulfill his wish for revenge but the presence of the panda bear next to her stopped him. That one practically radiated strength and power and Tiganus knew he had to wait until that one was far away before he could make his move.

But his sister would die at his own hands.

* * *

"Wow, look at that scenery." Po sighed, his words the exact same as almost a week ago.

But this time, five days after the arrival of the refugee convoy, the masters weren't seeing lush green forests sprawling out in all directions but a barren landscape swarming with brown-furred rodents running to and fro, drilling in military exercises and others clearing the area around them. Po had never seen so many living beings in one place. There had to be almost half a million individuals down there and when he tried using Chi sight, he was almost blinded by the glare meeting him.

"It's an insult to nature." Crane commented.

"How are we supposed to defend against those numbers?" Mantis wondered, even his bluster subdued.

"By killing them one at the time until they are all dead." Tigara stated resolutely, looking down at the army assembled.

"What did they do to you?" Viper wondered quietly, seeing the determination in the older tiger, the pent-up rage bubbling under her skin.

Po looked back to the pass, seeing the rhino soldiers train and drill themselves. Upon his own suggestion, the front ranks wasn't using spears anymore but heavy hammers that had a sharpened tip on top so they could be used as a stabbing weapon and not just for blunt attacks. The rhinos trained the use of those weapons as well as the stabbing with the spears the second rank was using.

The first rank also drilled the use of their shield wall to bash enemies, the hooks keeping the shields together being easily opened with a flick of their fingers. The former boar bandits had volunteered to act as attackers, pushing against the shield wall and being shoved back before the rhinos opened the wall and hammered them in mock attacks.

Wolf units and those tigers willing to help with the defense stood behind the rhinos, ready to break out if the opportunity arose. The rhinos drilled for that too, opening the shield wall so that a sallying force could rush through them and wreak havoc among their unsuspecting foes. Replacement was also trained in case a rhino fell or if they had to be removed due to exhaustion.

Po blanched inwardly at the thought of those rhinos mangling and killing real opponents. Given the number of rats down there, the casualties would be horrendous and he hoped that despite everything, he would be able to keep his mood up to act as the beacon of hope that he as the Dragon Warrior was supposed to be.

Their own camp had, during the last weeks, turned into a small city itself. When he had learned about the rat army on the move, General Lupina had ordered a worker corps to go down the other side of the pass and fell as many trees as they could, both to use the wood for themselves and to deny it to the enemy.

The vast majority of tents had been replaced by wooden barracks buildings, housing dozens and some even hundreds of soldiers each. A wooden palisade surrounded the entirety of the camp while on the inside, bakeries, kitchens, smithies and other buildings had been erected that produced loafs of bread, soup, broths and other foods or repaired and replaced weapons and armor.

Huge condors constantly ferried materials to the camp, from grain, vegetables and other cooking ingredients to iron for the smithies and all the other basic necessities an army needed to function. Po was glad that the granaries of the Empire were well filled and could feed this army for months to come, though he dearly hoped that they wouldn't have to be here for such a long time.

Work on the battlements had also progressed rapidly once word of the enemy army strength had gotten to them. Lupina had ordered the worker corps to work around the clock, their work places lit by hundreds of torches at night so they could finish all they needed to do. Now the battlements stood ready, hewed into the rock itself.

Po marveled at the effort. They hadn't just hammered the top of the cliff away to create battlements at the top, they had actually dug shafts into the stone so that there was still a thick layer of rock above them, protecting them from possible catapult attacks. More wolves, tigers and boars stood in those caves, practicing arrow volleys that would skewer the front ranks of any attacking. Their arrows were new, flown in by more condors, the tip made of sharpened iron that could penetrate everything but the thickest armor.

His view went to the armor worn by the rhino troops. Even though Lupina had told them that it was heavy armor, Po had been surprised at how heavy it actually was. The plate was thick and covered the entirety of the rhino body, even their joints protected by armor plate that protruded like a bruise that had swollen up. A high and thick gorget protected their necks and throats, preventing anyone from below from hitting these vulnerable points with spears.

Po had tried one of those armors on and had found new respect for the rhinos. He had lasted only a few minutes in that thing, the feeling of it like someone had encased him in a metal coffin with a breathing slit. The armor was insanely heavy and walking around was difficult, let alone lifting a heavy weapon and swinging that. The rhinos didn't have that problem, using their weapons like it was nothing but even they would tire out after a few hours of being in those armors.

"I have never seen so many people." Tigress stated as she kept watching the enemy camp. "I doubt even our capital has so many inhabitants as the camp down there."

"I wonder how they are feeding them." Crane added. "It's just turning spring so there isn't much to forage. Any feral animal would have fled the area already and our men have diverted the river, so even drinking water should be scarce, except if they found an underground source we don't know about."

Tigress looked back, seeing the curving river flowing through their own camp. Normally, that river would have flown through their camp and towards the east for another mile before curving to the south and finally cascading down the cliff in a waterfall close to the enemy camp. But apparently, whoever had first designed the defenses at this spot had also prepared for that and built canals to divert the river away from its usual flow.

Now it was going into their camp, functioning as their own source for fresh water and flowing around the camp into a prepared moat, adding another defense to the camp itself before it followed the canal westward and cascaded into underground caves that led to another dry riverbed at least twenty miles away from the enemy camp.

The enemy must have found this river bed because the masters regularly watched rats coming into the camp carrying water skins and buckets but unless they added at least another twenty thousand to that job or built some form of aqueduct, there would never be enough water reaching the camp to supply half a million individuals.

"I think we can safely say that the first attack will come soon." Po said.

"How do you figure?" Crane asked.

"You said it yourself." Po pointed out. "The enemy commander should know that he can't supply all of these forces."

"And what the hell are they building down there?" Mantis pointed to the wooden construction that kept rising into the sky.

"It's not a siege tower, that's for sure." Tigress said.

"How do you know?" Monkey asked.

"It doesn't have any wheels." Tigara replied to him. "A siege tower needs to move."

"Could it be a catapult tower of some sort?" Monkey wondered.

"Doubtful." Po pondered. "It's already too narrow at the base. A catapult high and big enough to reach our lines from there and do some damage would need a much broader base to even out the force it endures during firing."

"Well, than we'll see when they're done." Mantis said.

"Ok, we should head back." Po proclaimed.

With everybody nodding, Po let them back through the pass, the training rhinos making room and nodding to the masters. As they were about to get past the cliff sides, they felt a tremor below their feet, a faint vibration that seemed to get stronger with every second. General Lupina, who had come to the pass to look down at the enemy camp himself, approached them.

"Is that an earthquake?" Viper wondered.

"No." Lupina shook his head, his facial expression grim. "That's the sound of moving battle formations."

The masters along with General Lupina ran towards the cliff edge, looking down the serpentine to the enemy camp. True to the wolf's words, they saw a tremendous force of rats moving up the serpentine at a brisk pace, the stomping of their combined feet making the stone vibrate under them. Po looked at Tigress, her own grim facial expression mirroring his and she took his paw, pressing it in a show of love and support.

"And so it begins." Po sighed as Lupina ran back to the pass, calling his forces to their positions.

* * *

 **Tam tam taaaaa *drum roll* :D No battle just yet ^^**

 **Review please (or I won't write the battle scene ;))  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**Alienheart: Who said anything about humans? :D They could be giants, they could by cyclopes. Just because they have no fur and pink skin doesn't mean human ^^ Also, even if they were, who says that in the KFP universe, humans couldn't be massive being with enormous strength :P**

 **Enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: Not mine**

* * *

"STEADY!" Commander Hipach, the leader of the rhinos standing in the pass, shouted as the innumerable rat army closed in. "STEADY!"

Po could scarcely believe his eyes. He and the other masters stood inside the cliff dugouts, behind the archers and watched the enemy approach their lines. They were beyond counting. The rats were almost at their own lines, yet more of them still came around the corner onto the straight incline that led to the top of the pass itself.

"PREPARE FOR IMPACT!" Hipach shouted again and the rhinos in the front ranks braced themselves against their shields.

With a sound that reminded Po of the times he had dropped pots and pans in his father's kitchen, the first line of the rats collided with the shield wall. Po scrunched his face when the sound turned to one of breaking bones and squished bodies as the following rats hit their comrades, squeezing them against the shield wall, which didn't even buckle.

Po's idea of the first rank of rhinos carrying hammers instead of spears proved to have an added side benefit. The rhinos used them as anchors, the end of the handle stuck against the ground while the hammerheads were braced against the shields, adding even more resistance. The rhinos waited patiently while more and more rats piled against their shields, some even trying to scramble over their dead comrades but the rhinos in the third rank quickly dissuaded them by killing any who tried with their spears.

"SPEARS!" Hipach yelled and the second rank rammed their long spears through the grooves in the shields, skewering any rat currently in front of them.

The rats didn't even blink an eye at the several dozen who had just died and simply kept pushing against the shields. Much to the Master's surprise, one of the spear wielding rhinos began singing, the song being picked up by the others and they used the beat of the song to ram their spears forward in unison, killing more and more rats in the process.

"HALT!" Hipach shouted again and the rhinos stopped. "BASH!"

With deft finger movements, having trained that for weeks, the front rank of rhinos lifted the hooks out of the latches that connected their shields together before pushing the shields outward, sending surprised rats flying back into their comrades. Before the enemy could recover, the rhinos brought their hammers forward, the force of the impact crunching bones and breaking necks wherever they hit.

Once done, the rhinos brought the shields back in, hooking them back together and placing the hammers against them again. The rats surged forward once more, the entire process repeating itself with the spear-wielding rhinos pushing their weapons forward through the grooves and killing even more rodents.

"BASH!" Hipack shouted again and the front rank pushed their shields out again before hammering more rats into pulp, while the third rhino rank took the long spears from the second rank. "SWITCH!"

Upon that command, the front rank closed the shield wall and braced it with the hammers again. This time though, the front rank and the second switched places, stepping between each other. As the new front rank pushed their arms through the argyle grips of the shields, the former front rank kept switching places with the rows behind them until they were at the very end.

Po looked at the rhinos and saw how labored their breathing was, showing the Masters how taxing it was to wear and use that heavy equipment in a real battle. Since he knew how to cook broths that gave specific races their energy back, he was determined to make several cauldrons for the next day, this time it would simply take too long.

While the rhinos in the pass held off the rats, the archers in the cliff side dugouts weren't inactive either. They kept shooting arrows into the rats farther back in an attempt to thin out their lines but yet more rats kept coming up the serpentine and around the corner. Po was concerned that they might run out of ammunition before the rats ran out of soldiers but there was nothing that could be done about that.

"Crane." Po got his friend's attention. "Can you fly up high and over the serpentine to check how many rats are still coming up?"

"Of course." Crane nodded and fixed his hat before leaving the dugout and flapping his wings to get into the air, several eagles following him when they saw what he was doing.

The remaining Masters watched their friend go over the enemy lines, several arrows flying up at him but never getting high enough to cause him any harm but telling them that the enemy had archers as well. Before long, a group of boars came into the dugout, carrying bundles of new arrows and placing them next to the archers.

"They're still coming onto the serpentine." Crane told them after he returned. "But it looked as if they were the last. I haven't seen more units assembling."

"My scouts told me they counted another hundred-eighty thousand coming up the pass." Lupina said as he came into the dugout.

"General." Po nodded to the wolf. "Isn't it dangerous for you to be here?"

"The risk is negligible." Lupina shrugged. "The enemy's archers aren't remotely close enough the even shoot an arrow into these dugouts, not to mention hitting someone standing farther inside like me."

"How is your assessment so far?" Monkey asked him.

"I'm very concerned." the wolf sighed.

"Why?" Tigara scoffed. "We're killing them by the hundreds without suffering any casualty ourselves."

"That's the problem." Lupina turned around to look at Tigress' mother. "You need to look at the bigger picture."

"What do you mean, General?" Mantis wanted to know.

"The more rats we kill, the more they are blocking the pass. Which means that the rats still coming will, by necessity, begin to use their dead as a stepping stone to simply jump over our shield wall. To prevent that, the phalanx needs to take a few steps back but if enough enemies come after them, they will at some point exit the pass." Lupina explained. "The term 'overwhelming numbers' isn't just a fancy description of an enemy having way more troops then you."

"But the rhinos are quite strong and their armor pretty much impregnable compared to the enemy weapons, right?" Viper asked.

"Up to a point." Lupina conceded. "But a phalanx remains strong only as long as it has unit cohesion. Once the enemy breaks through, the phalanx falls apart. Even the hardiest enemy falls to the ground sometimes. And when you have ten enemies holding down your arms, you can't prevent the eleventh from ramming his sword through the eye slits of your helmet."

"Ouch." Po made a face. "So, what's the plan?"

"Our rhinos can take about five hundred steps backwards before the pass gets too wide to effectively block it without reserve units." Lupina told them. "If the rats keep pushing us there, we might have to expect an open battle with all our forces. And that will be bloody, given that we're currently facing only half the number of forces the enemy has here."

"But we have ten thousand rhinos." Mantis argued. "Couldn't they create a large horseshoe at the mouth of the pass and bottle any enemy up in there while archers shoot over them?"

"Then we get to the same problem we're facing now, only later." Lupina returned. "We could really get into a bind here."

The Masters watched for several hours while the battle played out. The rhinos continued to repel the rats and also kept switching places, always having a comparatively fresh first and second line to defend. After about an hour, when every row had been at the front line at least twice, another thousand rhinos marched into the pass.

Apart from the first two, who were holding and stabbing respectively, all rhinos in the blocking force turned and filed past the reinforcements, who let them through with shaking their hands or giving them slaps on the back, and then the reinforcements stepped in behind the still fighting rhinos. Another command later, another switch took place, the spear-wielding second row handing theirs away and stepping backwards too and one final command later, during a lull in the fight, the front row of rhino soldiers stepped back as well, allowing the fresh unit to take over.

All the Masters were very impressed with how smoothly that exchange went, no shield ever dipping or allowed being broken through. With fresh troops on the front line, the exhausted rhinos walked back to the camp to rest and eat and Po hurried after them to prepare a large cauldron with the specific food that would give rhinos their energy back, ignoring his earlier assessment that it would be too late to cook today.

Tigress followed him, helping him in the camp kitchen, since a thousand rhinos would eat a lot. Po worked as if possessed, being everywhere at once and the other cooks and kitchen staff could only watch in awe at the big panda moving through his element. Tigress danced with him, moving around and past him in trained movements, as if she had always helped him cook. It took almost an hour but finally, Po added the last ingredient and picked up the huge cauldron, manhandling it onto the hook of the push cart and then bringing that outside to the rhino unit.

"Guys, come here and eat this." he called over to them. "It will give you back your strength."

"Thank you, Dragon Warrior." the officer in charge of the unit said and ate the first bowl to gauge its effect, nodding appreciatively. "Men, eat this."

The entire unit helped itself while Po returned to the kitchen. He wrote down the ingredients and how they had to be put into the pots or cauldrons and at what time and handed it to the cooks. Feeling confident that that geese and rabbits manning the kitchen could handle it, he and Tigress returned to the dugouts to watch the fight.

During the time they were gone, the rhinos blocking the pass had to take almost a hundred steps back, allowing the rat archers to target the wolfs, boars and tigers manning the dugouts. Po saw several with wounds, some unable to shoot anymore when an arrow hat pierced their arms and even several dead ones being carted out.

"General!" one of Lupina's aides spoke up. "The enemy has paused in their attack."

"What?" Lupina stood up and headed to the edge of the dugouts to look out, his guards blocking the line of sight of any enemy archer.

"What are they doing?" Viper wondered, looking at the rats who had moved backwards and now waited.

"They lost over a quarter of their number already." Monkey pointed at the incredible amount of corpses on the ground. "I would guess their morale is too low to continue the attack."

"I think the reason is different." Tigara, who had never left the dugout, pointed out. "Look."

They watched as the rat soldiers made room and more rats, these smaller and unarmed, swarmed through. To their astonishment, the smaller rats picked up the corpses of their comrades, pulling them backwards by the thousands and they even used hooks and long ropes to get the ones that were lying in front of the rhinos. The rhinos, on their part, even helped them along, using their shields like a plow, walking forward to push the corpses towards the enemy before retreating back to where they had been.

When the smaller rats had taken the corpses away that the rhinos had pushed forward, the phalanx stepped forward again, returning to the spot they had occupied when the battle had started. But had they known what the rats were about to use the corpses for, they would have done everything in their power to prevent the rats taking them.

* * *

"Get up." Baribusa ordered.

"Fancy another game?" Lyanna quipped, standing up with some difficulty due to the leg wound that still bothered her.

"No, you're coming with us."

"Coming where?" Lyanna asked.

"I'm taking the freshly trained troops to our new base at the pass my brother is attacking right now." Baribusa replied.

Lyanna let the guards cuff her wrists, knowing that resistance would be futile anyhow. The key Baribusa gave her to these cuffs was still safely tucked away in a fold of her fur, ready to be used when she had the chance to kill that little rat who had used her as a jester and gladiator while routinely trying to humiliate her.

Coming out into the open, Lyanna was taken aback at the sight greeting her. What used to be the town of Xinan had been turned into something more resembling a landfill, detrius and excrement everywhere. The smell was overpowering, making her gag and almost throw up when a gust of wind pushed it towards her.

"No wonder your people have to move constantly." she remarked.

"What do you mean?" Baribusa asked.

"If my home began smelling like a sewage system, I would move too." Lyanna told him.

"I know." Baribusa sighed, surprising her.

The next sight caused a sense of dread inside her. Knowing roughly how many rats had left with the other General, she was greeted by the sight of innumerable numbers of rats standing in deep ranks outside the city. Most of them were the small ones she could see everywhere but a lot were the larger variant that she had learned were their elite force.

"Our breeders should be arriving today at Korgana's camp." Baribusa said to another officer. "Does the accompanying units know their orders?"

"Yes, sir." the officer nodded.

Her guards pushed her into the cage and locked it, leaving her to watch the proceedings. To her surprise, the little runt she wanted to kill wasn't with them and after several more minutes, Baribusa gave the order to march, the tens of thousands or even more of rats beginning to move. It took two hours before her cage was pushed forward and during all that time, unit after unit had left the area, walking to the west.

"Can I ask you something?" Lyanna asked Baribusa who was riding on the same cart her cage was on, his leg still preventing him from marching long distances.

"Go ahead." Baribusa nodded.

"If you were in command of your people, would you wage war against us?" she wanted to know and was greeted with a long silence.

"No." Baribusa finally answered. "If my people can't learn to peacefully coexist with others anymore, we will perish."

"I can't believe that you are the only in some position of power one who thinks that way." she continued.

"There are more like me." Baribusa said. "But the shadow council would kill anyone who murdered his way to the top only to make peace."

"And nobody knows who the members of that council are?" Lyanna wondered. "They are making life and death decisions for your race and nobody knows?"

"We don't even know where they meet." Baribusa sighed again. "Many have tried to end them since we had to flee our home. Even before that, when the alchemists changed our females on their orders. But everyone who tried died. Those rare instances when a council member was seen and confronted, they almost always emerged victorious."

"Almost?" Lyanna wondered.

"Yes, in very rare instances, a council member was successfully assassinated."

"And what happens then?"

"If nobody witnessed the assassination, then the victor became a new council member." Baribusa told her.

"And if it was witnessed?"

"Then the offender is killed and the other council members choose a new one."

"How many members are there?"

"Always nine." Baribusa told her and even he himself wondered why he was so talkative towards the prisoner.

"I overheard others of your clan talking about getting rid of Rattus." Lyanna revealed. "Why would they plan to kill their lord if they wouldn't be in power anyway?"

"Oh, they would be in power." Baribusa corrected her assumption. "The council doesn't care who leads the clans as long as their orders are followed."

"So basically, what you're telling me is that your race is controlled by a rarely seen cabal of mysterious individuals whose only solution to their problems is war?" Lyanna was at the end of her wit. "And people follow their orders because...?

"Because anyone speaking up against them openly will die a mysterious death and because the leadership of my race agrees with a lot of their ideas. And the vast majority of our troops know nothing else. From our military, basically only me, my brother and a few other Generals know about our past along with a few dozen of the older storm trooper veterans."

"So, if you wanted peace, that council would have to die to the last rat." Lyanna concluded.

"Yes." Baribusa nodded after a few seconds of quiet before leaving her alone.

Lyanna watched his retreating form and wondered what it all entailed. Certainly, for all his military ability, Baribusa was someone who could be negotiated with but with that council in control, nothing could be done. Lyanna fingered the key inside her fur and vowed again to flee as soon as she could, if only to warn someone about that council and about Baribusa's attitude.

With him in control, peace could be achieved.

* * *

"The tower is still not ready." Korgana stated to the rat in front of him.

"Apologies, my lord." the rat, who was the unofficial leader of the slave in the camp, groveled.

"Stand up." Korgana told him, his voice softer.

While Korgana felt the same ingrained detestation every rat felt for the slave cast, their scrawny bodies and mangy fur and complete inability to fight repulsive to his eyes, he knew their worth to his race. Without the slaves, their society would fall apart. In their camp, they built the huts, the tower and dug the caves for breeders that would arrive this day. Plus, they also hauled the dead bodies away from the battlefield and prepared them for the breeders.

"Explain the delay." Korgana ordered the rat.

"We have trouble getting the materials quickly. The forest around us had been mostly felled before our arrival. And since we also have to build an aqueduct to get the water from the new river outlet, I have few people left for the tower, especially now that we have to get the bodies from the pass."

"I know how many of you work at the different places." Korgana returned. "That means I also know how many of you should be working at the tower."

"There were... extenuating circumstances." the rat stammered.

"What circumstances?"

"I lost two hundred of my people to..."

"To what?"

"One of your units." the rat visibly collapsed inwardly.

"I'm sorry, what?" Korgana asked confused.

"They killed and ate them."

Korgana sat back into his chair and closed his eyes. His people had long established the normalcy of cannibalism, both as an added food source and also to prevent their dead from clogging up everything but that had always just applied to the rats who either died in battle or in accidents, with old age very rarely being the cause. Never had they killed their own for the sole purpose of eating them and it could set a dangerous precedent.

"Show me the unit." Korgana ordered and stood up.

"General, the breeders have arrived." an aide informed him.

"Very good, bring them down to the caves." Korgana nodded.

"The leader of the breeder program said their charges need food, quickly." the aide added.

"We have the dead coming down from the fight in the pass." Korgana told him. "Tell them to prepare the meat and feed them."

They walked out of his command hut and headed towards the segment of the camp where the unit Korgana wanted to see was based. A look towards the serpentine told him without words that the attack had failed as he had expected, his surviving troops running down the road as fast as their feet could carry them. There seemed to be so many dead that the slaves on corpse reclamation duty simply pushed them down the slopes, more slaves on the lower serpentine sections waiting for them and repeating the process on their step.

Despite the fact that he presided over a bad loss for his race, he knew that he didn't have any choice in sending his troops into an attack without even scouting out the location first but the food situation had been so dire that there hadn't been any other choice. He looked around the giant camp, sectioned off with stakes and small fences to keep the various regiments and sometimes even battalions apart from each other.

That was the other negative aspect of his race's reproductive rate. Backstabbing and the outright killing of others outside their own litter or unit was normal among his people, especially in the lower ranks, as long as it was done without witnesses. Therefore, whenever large concentration of different clans, tribes and units congregated, they walled each other off in segments of big camps. The only time his race really worked together was against a common enemy but even then, backstabbing was too prevalent for his own liking. He bet that more than a few corpses coming down the slopes had wounds only in their backs.

"This is the unit." the slave leader pointed to a camp segment where several dozen rats stood on sentry duty, their heads down as if tired.

"Soldier!" Korgana snapped the rat in front of him out his stupor after sending the slave away to work. "Falling asleep on duty?"

"General." the rat straightened, embarrassed.

"You look like you have been on guard duty for days." Korgana pointed out, seeing the other guards slumped as well.

"Almost a full day." the rat nodded.

"Who's the officer in charge of the guards?" Korgana asked.

"That would be me." the rat replied. "Lieutenant Balac."

"Lieutenant, I heard some disconcerting news regarding your unit." Korgana squinted his eyes, giving the lower officer a glare. "Very disconcerting."

"I think I know what you are referring to and you are right." the rat nodded.

"You're admitting it?"

"Why do you think me and the others are standing here on guard duty all this time?" the rat returned before remembering who he was talking to. "Sir."

"Tell me." Korgana ordered again.

"When we ran out of food, my unit leader wanted meat. So when our unit returned from guard duty at the aqueduct building site, he ordered to take slaves with us. Then they began killing, cooking and eating them." the Lieutenant sighed. "All of us who refused to take part were punished with continuous guard duty."

"Get me the first storm trooper battalion." Korgana told his aide who rushed off.

"Your orders, General?" the storm trooper leader asked after their arrival, ten minutes later.

"The rats of the battalion inside this enclosure has committed a grave crime against our race." Korgana told them. "Your order is to punish them for their crime."

"Level of punishment?" the officer in charge wanted to know.

"Extreme." Korgana told him. "The entire battalion. Their meat shall give rise to their replacement."

"On your order, General." the officer nodded.

"One more thing." Korgana stopped him. "Every soldier of the battalion currently on guard duty is to be spared."

Korgana turned around, letting the storm troopers do their dirty work. The sounds of slaughter rose several other units out of their barracks for fear of being under attack, but who then quickly retreated back when they realized what those sounds meant. With the offending rats in a stupor after drinking too much and eating themselves full of rat meat, they weren't much of a challenge for the elite storm troopers.

As he was walking back to his command hut, Korgana shook his head in disgust. The sight of the cages with the breeders being rolled into the caves below their feet while screeching for food reminded Korgana that his race was doomed if they didn't change. Perpetual warfare was forever their curse if only to control their population.

* * *

 **And stopping point here. First round of battle is over. Stay tuned for round two :D**

 **Review please :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry, this took so long. But I was sick, took a writing break and have two other stories to write as well ^^**

 **Still, enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: not mine**

* * *

"I hereby transfer command of the army back to you, General." Korgana said, saluting Baribusa who stood in front of him.

Baribusa saluted back and looked around the camp. The gigantic area was sprawling with rat soldiers, most of them milling around while his elite storm troopers were already training again, having taken their assigned areas quickly and efficiently. A wide wooden aqueduct transported water into the camp, most of it running through smaller byways into the various camp quarters and the remaining water going into the underground caves where the breeders and almost forty percent of the army were housed.

"Why are they still working on the tower?" Baribusa asked, pointing to the top where the slaves were still working.

"We had a few... uh... disruptions." Korgana shrugged.

"Such as?"

"For one, before our arrival, the enemy had cut a sizable part of the forest down, so we had to range farther to get wood. Then they blocked the regular run of the river, forcing us to build this aqueduct to get water into our camp."

"Alright." Baribusa nodded.

"Also, some of the slaves got eaten." Korgana added.

"What? By predators in the forest?"

"No, by our own forces." Korgana explained. "We had food shortages and one battalion killed about a hundred slaves to eat them."

"What unit was this." Baribusa ground out, his rage rising.

"Doesn't matter, the unit doesn't exist anymore. Severe punishment was given."

"Very well." Baribusa nodded, watching Lyanna's cage being rolled into the underground caves, the female tiger staring at him, which somewhat discomforted him. "Lets get up to the tower and show me our enemy."

"Where is Rattus?" Korgana asked as the slaves at the foot of the tower turned the wheel that lifted their carriage into the air.

"Our esteemed lord?" Baribusa smirked, his voice laced with sarcasm. "As far as I know, he's still back in Xinan."

"Xinan?" Korgana looked at his superior.

"That was the name of the town our base used to be."

"Is it weird that I never knew that?"

"It's not like you have been there often." Baribusa chuckled. "When I left, Rattus was nowhere to be seen. Maybe we're in luck and he fell into a vat of poison in the alchemists labs."

"That's a bad thing to say about our illustrious leader." Korgana joined in the laughter but both stopped when arriving at the top where the slaves were still busy building the roof.

"General." the lead slave bowed deep, the other stopping their work to do the same.

"Carry on." Baribusa nodded to them. "So the tower seems to be a bit far away. How do we watch the enemy from here?"

"We use these." Korgana produced a pipe and several lenses.

"What's this?"

"A looking glass." Korgana told him. "You look through it and put these lenses into these slots. The more you put in, the further you can see."

"Interesting." Baribusa nodded impressed and inserted two of the three lenses. "So, what have you done so far?"

"The only thing I could." Korgana sighed. "I threw almost half of the army at the enemy so they could be slaughtered, otherwise I would have had to deal with starving troops."

"You sacrificed several hundred thousand troops?"

"Yes. Luckily, the enemy doesn't impede our slaves when they recover the bodies of our dead. They even help us since it empties the battlefield and doesn't risk disease in their ranks."

"That seems odd." Baribusa looked at him.

"I doubt they know what we do with our fallen." Korgana shrugged.

"And what have you done since then?"

"The only thing I could. I had our regular forces train while I used the freshly born rats to keep the enemy busy. Then recovering their corpses to feed the breeders and doing the same thing again."

"From now on, our attacks will be more focused." Baribusa proclaimed after watching the fight for a while and seeing the rhinos open their shields to bash their hammers forward and then switching places with the next line.

"In what way?" Korgana asked, confused.

"So far, you only attacked them head on, right?"

"Of course, it's not like there are other possibilities with the drop on the right and the sheer cliff walls on the left." Korgana said, wondering where Baribusa was going with this.

"True, but we're going to send one of the elite companies with each attack force. They will hang back and watch for opportunities to break through that shield wall."

"Even with their bigger mass, the elites are still vastly inferior to these enemies." Korgana argued. "That armor they are wearing has only one weakness that I've seen, and that's the eyes."

"Then that's where we have to stab them through." Baribusa stated.

"Easier said then done."

"I never said it would be easy." Baribusa growled. "But we can't go on like this and hope that the enemy loses the will to fight."

"So how will this go?"

"As I said, I'll order the storm troopers to hang back and watch. I see two opportunities to break through the wall." Baribusa told him.

"I do too." Korgana retorted. "But so far, none of my forces have managed to get anywhere close when they switch places or go above it. The long spears of the second row prevent that."

"I didn't even consider going above them." Baribusa chuckled.

"Then what is your second?"

"Take the looking glass." Baribusa held out the device. "Look closely when our forces impact on the shields."

"Yeah, so?"

"They use more than just their bodies to hold them together. They barely move when our forces impact, even when they attack only a small area."

"You think they are anchored in the ground?" Korgana asked, looking at the shield wall as it was attacked.

"Not as such." Baribusa shook his head. "When they open the shields, you don't see anything like an anchor dangling from it. No, I think they either use their weapons as anchors or they somehow tie these shields together to prevent us from getting through."

"So, to recap this, you want to attack the enemy in force, hold back your elite troopers, without them getting shot by arrows or causing the enemy to become suspicious to their presence, and have them crash through the shield wall when the enemy is closing it after destroying our front line."

"Exactly." Baribusa gave an evil grin.

"Alright." Korgana shrugged. "When do we start?"

"Nothing like the present." Baribusa laughed. "On my way here I trained a unit as signal core. They will relay messages with flags."

"How will that work?"

"Easy. One will always be with me in view of the tower. Another will be on top of the tower and a third will accompany our forces and stay on top of the serpentine with a few runners that will relay my orders to the front."

"That's... quite ingenious." Korgana nodded impressed. "But we still can't attack now. We need to assemble a force and move them up. Plus, daylight is fading already."

"Alright, then we go tomorrow morning. Choose the cannon fodder forces while I tell the elites what their job is."

"Very well." Korgana said and both Generals returned to the ground, leaving the rat slaves to finish the tower.

* * *

"Po?" Tigress asked after she found her mate sitting under an overhanging rock, using the claw on his right index finger to whittle down a piece of wood. "Everything alright?"

"No." Po sighed. "I'm tired."

"As in tired that you need to sleep?"

"No, tired of all this." Po waved his arm to his right, towards the pass. "So much death and destruction and for what?"

"I don't know." Tigress said sympathetic and sat down next to him, snuggling into his fur. "I don't really understand why they continue to fight. Each wave brakes against our blocking force and after the fight is over, they even clean up the corpses and debris the pass."

"That's another thing." Po interrupted her. "What are they doing with the corpses?"

"What do you mean?"

"They don't burn them, we would see the smoke, especially given how many rats the rhinos and archers have already killed. I highly doubt that they bury them somewhere." Po looked at her.

"You don't think... no, they can't, can they?" Tigress returned disbelievingly.

"I do think." Po nodded. "I think they use their corpses as food."

"That's reprehensible." Tigress gasped, feeling as if she had to throw up.

"If it's true." Po shrugged. "I could be wrong. I certainly hope I'm wrong."

"Come on, the next battalion is about to relieve the one in the pass, they need their food." Tigress said as she stood up, pressing a kiss on his cheek.

"Alright." Po smiled at her and followed her towards the camp.

Po and Tigress walked back towards the sprawling camp, which had developed into a small city really, the guards at the gate greeting them with a nod. Po went directly into the main kitchen, the cooks already having prepared every ingredient for him to mix together, the water with the main ingredients already boiling, waiting only for the secret additives that Po had gleaned from the Kung Fu scrolls.

Just as he was done cooking, the exhausted rhino battalion entered the camp, some almost falling down from exhaustion from the constant vigilance and frequent fighting. Their attendants helped them out of their armor, using washcloths to clean the soldiers who used their weapons to hold themselves up.

When their hygienic requirements were met, the battalion came into the mess hall, where Po had already placed the five cauldron on their hooks so the workers could ladle the broth out of the pot. The rhinos separated into five lines, one for each pot and the workers quickly and efficiently filled the bowls for the soldiers.

"Many thanks, Dragon Warrior." one of the rhinos nodded towards Po.

"Least I can do." Po told him. "You and the archers do all the fighting so far."

"But with you here, victory is assured." the soldier said proudly and went to sit down.

"I told you." Tigress whispered to him. "You're a hero to them, an icon."

"Don't remind me." Po groaned. "They are the true heroes."

"Come on, lets get some sleep."

They walked to the large barracks building and to the part that the troops had begun calling the Master's roundel, for its roundness and the five chambers it offered for the five Kung Fu Masters. Tigress followed Po into his chamber and waited until her panda had laid down in his bed before joining him, wrapping her arm around him before falling asleep.

Po, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. His mind whirled with the implications of what he alleged, of the enemy using the corpses of their slain to feed their army. Also, somehow, they must be replenishing it regularly, since no army could readily sustain such a continuous assault on their lines.

Even if he still abhorred killing, they all had to face the hard truth. The only way of winning this war would be getting out to the camp or camps of the rats and find out how they reproduce. And then destroy those means even if that would result in the annihilation of the entire species. With those disturbing thoughts going through his mind, he finally fell asleep.

The next morning, he cooked breakfast for himself and his friends, the camp's cooks preparing their own for the troops, which consisted of broth, bread and fruit. Po had to admit, the Emperor was as good as his word, keeping them well-supplied even though it must be depleting the northern stores tremendously, given the season.

"Dragon Warrior." Lupina greeted them as the wolf got his own breakfast.

"General." Po nodded. "Anything happen during the night?"

"No, apart from the enemy doing us a favor and cleaning the pass again. Sixth battalion has already relieved the fifth and is now guarding the pass." Lupina replied.

"Any other news?" Monkey wanted to know.

"Unfortunately, yes." Lupina nodded, his voice going quiet so his soldiers wouldn't hear. "Our aerial scouts saw an enormous army arrive yesterday. Seems the reinforcements have arrived."

"Numbers?" Mantis whispered.

"Best estimates say between three- and four hundred thousand."

"General, Po raised an interesting point yesterday." Tigress interjected. "What do you think they are doing with the corpses? They aren't burning them and it's not very feasible that they are burying them."

"Uh..." Lupina hummed, never having thought about it. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

"We are." Po nodded. "We think they use them to feed their armies."

"Cannibalism or carrion eating is not that uncommon, fish do it a lot." Lupina shrugged. "But what would be the alternative? Are we supposed to collect the corpses and burn them?"

"Yes." Viper hissed, causing the other Masters to look at her. "If it meant shortening this war, then why not?"

"That would require sending scouts down there." Lupina sighed. "We have plenty of aerial reconnaissance but sending someone down there on the ground is practically impossible, given how many enemy soldiers are down there in that camp."

"I can't really believe that a camp that size could house over half a million." Mantis shook his head.

"I have seen them." Crane nodded. "They have even built a large aqueduct from the new outflow of the river to get water into their camp. And me and the other scouts believe that they use that big tower they built to watch the pass. We also saw holes in the ground where rats went in and came out of, so there is most likely a vast underground cave system."

"I included those information in my last report to the Emperor." Lupina nodded. "But quite frankly, I'm at a loss at how we can end this war. We can't go down there, since they are too many to attack and we can't simply continue to defend the pass forever."

"Then we really should start collecting their corpses and burn them." Viper stated. "If we can't kill them, let them starve."

"Alright." Lupina nodded. "I'll send a unit to Nan City to get their prisoners as a labor force. I'd rather not have my own soldiers do that kind of work."

"Why not use the former bandits?" Mantis asked.

"We'll use them until the other prisoners arrive." Lupina nodded.

"General?" an aide approached their table. "The enemy is attacking again."

"The game continues." Lupina sighed and stood up.

"I'm sorry General but this time, the attacking force is bigger and includes a few units of extraordinarily large rats with good weapons and armor." the aide continued.

"Okay, give orders to the seventh rhino battalion to make themselves ready to reinforce or relieve sixth." Lupina ordered. "Order a fresh unit of archers to get to the battlements and bring them more arrows as well."

"Yes, General." the aide saluted and left them alone.

"Should we make ready too?" Po asked.

"Nah, I don't think this will be much different than the other attacks." Lupina shook his head.

Unfortunately, during the last few weeks, General Lupina and the majority of the troops had fallen into the trap of complacency. Just because things were going well didn't mean that they can't suddenly go horribly wrong. While Lupina, even after ordering reinforcements into the pass, was complacent, the rhino battalion even more so, lazily hefting their weapons and bracing their shields while expecting another round of slaughtering a barely-trained enemy who couldn't do anything else than attack from the front.

The battalion commander shouted his usual orders, expecting the enemy to crash against their shield wall and it began just as he predicted. Hundreds of rats pushed against their shields, the hammers braced against them, adding an extra layer of strength to the block. On another command, the rhinos pushed, opened their shields and slammed their hammers forward, killing scores of enemies while the archers in the battlements rained death down into the pass.

A few archers saw the elite storm troopers of the rats and wondered why those weren't moving, only keeping themselves out of arrow range. The attack continued unabated for over an hour, rats crashing into shields, getting pushed back and killed. The rhinos kept walking backwards, step for step, repeating the process time and time again

The storm troopers began walking forward, using their shields to block incoming arrow fire, their efforts so successful that the archers soon stopped shooting at them, focusing their fire against the smaller rats, especially when the elites stopped moving before reaching the shield wall and let the smaller rats do the fighting.

This time however, the elites had a special order. Their leader had told them in no uncertain terms what to look for and what to do. They were to watch the enemy and wait for an opening. The leader of the elite unit closest to the shield wall had noticed the way the rhinos were switching places behind the shield regularly, just as his their General had explained to them, providing a very short period when it was brittle. He had also noticed that the shields must be interlocked somehow, given that they barely bent when the rats were pushing against it even when the rhinos held their hammers visible to the rats.

Then the moment came.

Spying a moment when the rhinos were once again destroying the front line of the rats with their hammers, one of the storm troopers grabbed a lowly soldier by the neck and threw him as hard as he could against the shield wall, where two shields interlocked, just as the rhinos were closing the shields again. Due to the surprise, the rhino holding the shield moved his arm too far back and his movement made the rhino to his left miss with the latch, so it didn't lock with the shield the stumbling rhino was holding.

Screaming an order, the storm trooper corporal ran forward, his elite forces right behind him, creating a wedge that slammed into the shield wall right were it wasn't locked. The force of their charge bent the two shields inward, opening a hole where the rats began pouring through, widening the gap. The rhinos in the second rank, wielding long spears, couldn't drop them low enough to attack the storm rats and the other rows were too surprised by the sudden breach to react quickly enough, not that their dense formation allowed them to swing their swords.

Just as General Lupina had explained to Po a few weeks ago, a large enough number of rats was easily able to kill even a thickly armored rhino. With the rhinos clumped together so tightly, the rats could swing their swords at the weak spots in the armor, namely the eye slits and the storm rats, trained as they were, made good use of that weak spot, pushing their swords into the rhino's faces and killing them instantly.

Lowly rat soldiers poured through the gap and tackled the legs of the still standing rhinos, others sitting down on their arms as soon as they were down, allowing even a low rat soldier to kill the incapacitated rhino. The tigers and wolves inside the battlements were surprised by the sudden change in the battle as well but at least were alert enough to realize what was happening, one of them beginning to run back to the main camp while the other shook his comrades out of their stupor so they could begin to shoot at the storm rats, trying to stem the tide.

"GENERAL!" Lupina and the Masters heard a shout coming from the direction of the pass.

"What is it soldier?" Lupina asked when the tiger stopped in front of him.

"The rats have broken through!" the tiger reported breathlessly.

"WHAT?" Lupina shouted and his outburst coincided with the moment when the first rats ran out of the pass.

"What can we do?" Po asked, looking up at the wave of rats entering the plains.

"Sound the call to arms!" Lupina roared at his signaler, who blew a string of notes into his trumpet. "Master Crane, fly over the pass. Look how many rats have broken through and if reinforcements are coming up."

"Yes, General." Crane nodded and lifted off, a few scout eagles going after him.

"How did this happen?" Lupina rounded on the exhausted tiger.

"As far as I can tell, one of their elites threw one of his own comrades against the shield wall when they were closing it."

"Thereby knocking it in and preventing the latch to close." Lupina nodded, his military mind now easily deducting what had happened and also admiring the way these rats did this. "DAMMIT!"

"General, they're coming out of the pass." Po shouted, pointing to the pass where the rats were already spilling into the plain.

Back at the camp, units were gathering with commendable speed while those on call were already moving out of the camp to take formation. The tigers that weren't part of the archer force, were barely able to contain themselves, eager to get at the enemy and only the presence of Tigara and Pengana at their lead stopped them from charging headlong at the enemy. To hardly anyone's surprise, Tiganus was nowhere to be seen.

"Alright, listen up!" Pengana shouted at the tigers. "This is your chance to take revenge. But don't fight with reckless abandon. Anyone who gets killed because he couldn't control his rage will get into huge trouble."

That sentence brought a chuckle to the tigers, dispelling the tension that each felt. As the rats came closer, more rhino battalions formed, along with boars and wolves, every soldier hefting swords and shields, ready for battle. The seventh rhino battalion, having dressed in their heavy armor to replace the sixth in the pass, marched slowly towards it, their tower shields blocking the front. At General Lupina's command, several more companies took up places on their flanks and back, protecting them from side attacks until they reached the pass where the rocks would take over that job.

"Alright, this is for China!" Po shouted, his voice amplified as if he was holding a pipe, his eyes glowing with the hero's chi.

With a primal yell, the four masters, Crane still being airborne, along with thousands of rhinos, wolves and a hundred rabid tigers, charged at the oncoming rats.

* * *

 **Cliffhanger ^^ I know, I'm a bad person ;)**

 **Review please :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**I uploaded this chapter last week but I forgot to post it. And since I also got emails from the fanfiction forum saying that there were new delays in story alerts, I never saw that I forgot to actually post this chapter. Sorry about that.**

 **Enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: not mine**

* * *

"General, we've broken through." a messenger rat proclaimed upon bursting into Baribusa's tent.

"Very good." Baribusa grinned evilly and ran out of his tent, Korgana at his heels, moving towards the front of the camp where several regiments had already gathered.

"Orders, General?" the lead officer of the assembled force asked.

"Yes." Baribusa nodded. "We've broken through. Move your force up to the pass at once and reinforce the troops fighting the enemy."

"At once, General." the officer saluted and shouted orders to the regimental leaders, who relayed them to the troops.

Baribusa watched the ten regiments move out of the camp, the sheer amount of rats causing it the entire procession to last almost an hour, even with the rats running. Packed tightly together as they were, the lead force was only up two levels of the serpentine when the last rat exited the camp. Baribusa would have preferred the force to move faster but he knew the dangers of rats coming to the front stretched out like that.

"How many more regiments are we sending up?" Korgana asked his superior officer.

"As many as we can." Baribusa replied. "Round up regiments and gather them in front of the camp. I'll go to the storm troopers and instruct them on their role."

"If this attack gets beaten back, we're in deep trouble unless Lord Rattus arrives with some reinforcements." Korgana reminded him. "I highly doubt the enemy will allow us to get the corpses of our fallen from beyond the pass."

"Then we simply have to win." Baribusa stated, matter of fact, and headed to the compound where his prized storm troopers trained.

* * *

Po hated it. Hated it all. As another rat died under his claws, its throat opened and the lifeblood pouring out, he thought about the apparent futility of what they were doing. It has been more than two months since he and the majority of the forces arrived at this pass and six weeks since the rats had come.

Since then, they had endured daily attacks, the number of their enemy apparently inexhaustible. According to the officers and archers in the dugouts, they had killed at least ten thousand or even more rats per day after that first attack by that immense force, for six weeks straight, meaning that the enemy force must have lost between half a million and three quarters of a million troops, yet it never looked as if they had any problem replacing their lost soldiers.

Though everybody at the front line had agreed that the quality of the enemy had lessened dramatically after that first day, as if arriving new soldiers were thrown at them without any training. He didn't have more time to think about it, as more and more rats demanded his attention.

"Oh no, you don't." he snarled, seeing one of the taller rats trying to attack Tigress from behind, grabbing it by the neck and shaking it hard, the force of his powerful arms snapping the neck of his foe.

"Monkey!" Po shouted while taking the large sword of his fallen foe and throwing it towards his fellow master.

"On it!" Monkey shouted back and jumped into the air, doing a somersault and grabbing the airborne sword with his tail, straightening it.

Po caught Monkey's outstretched arms and began twirling around, moving towards the next concentration of rats as he did so, away from his mate. They hit their enemy with the force of a storm, a tornado of destruction as the sword carved a bloody path through the tightly packed enemy. The sword that Monkey clutched in his tail was the epitome of what the rats could create, a long and sharp blade made to be hold by a large, strong rat.

The rats around them fled from the pair in terror, the loss of two hundred and thirteen of their comrades in fifty-four seconds too much for their courage to take. Po used the moment of calm to look around, trying to get a bearing on the battle and to catch his breath while Monkey jumped back into the action, the sword still clutched in his tail and using it to wreak havoc among the closest rat units.

To Po's right, the rhino battalion that was supposed to relieve the one that had guarded the pass was still lumbering forward step by slow step, the weight of their equipment slowing them down to a crawl. Around them, more rhinos, lighter armed and armored, guarded their flanks while units of boars and wolves cleared the way in front with swords and bows.

To his left, he saw what he considered the most frightening sight. Along with more rhinos, boars and wolves, the almost one hundred tigers were a storm of destruction, their vengeful rage allowing them to shrug off wounds that would have incapacitated others with pain. By accident or design, the tigers had convened on the largest concentration of enemies, the majority of the rats having veered to their right after exiting the pass.

But that wasn't to say that the tigers fought with wild abandon. With Tiganus, their nominal leader, nowhere to be seen, Pengana, the female councilor of the lost city of Xinan, had effectively taken command of the tigers who had mostly shaken off their misogyny quickly after witnessing the prowess of females like Tigress, Tigara and Pengana.

"Dragon Warrior!" a shout made him turn around.

"General." Po nodded to the wolf and headed over to him. "Isn't it too dangerous for you to be here?"

"A risk I need to take." Lupina told him, his personal elite guard closing the net around them and killing any rat that came close. "I need to get an overview of the situation."

"The situation is that we're screwed." Po sighed. "While there are no more rats coming out of the pass now, you can bet that they will send reinforcements soon. Lots of them."

"I sent the eagles up to scout the pass and the area beyond." Lupina told him. "But you're right, we need to close the pass again, otherwise the enemy will swarm us with their numbers."

"General!" an eagle scout called down before landing next to them.

"Report." Lupina ordered.

"A large force of rats has left the enemy's camp and are coming up the serpentine. More forces are being assembled as we speak." the eagle told them.

"Numbers?" Po asked.

"At least fifty thousand." the eagle said.

"Dammit." Lupina growled in frustration. "How fast are they coming up?"

"Given the speed with which they ran up, they should be entering the pass now."

"We need to get the rhino battalion into the pass." Po stated resolutely, seeing the fastest of the reinforcement rats already running out of the pass, though thankfully it was only a few.

"I know that." Lupina shot back. "They simply can't move fast enough, especially with enemies barring their way, no matter how good the flanking forces are. If they enter the pass, the flanking forces can't follow, which means that they have to fight their way forward but it won't work against so many enemies, since their corpses would block the ground and make it impossible to remain in a cohesive line. Not to mention that with the pass getting narrower, they have to get shields out of the shield wall which carries the risk of another breakthrough."

"Then let us clear the pass for you." a new but to Po familiar voice interjected.

"Dad?" Po was surprised at the sight of his biological father and of another hundred pandas. "What are you doing here?"

"We are here to fight for China." Li Shan stated. "When the call to arms came, we followed. We arrived an hour ago with the other reinforcements."

"Granted, you and your kind are big and strong but how can you clear the pass?" Lupina asked doubtful.

"We pandas know mountains and we let mountains guide us." Li Shan smiled and pointed to the other pandas, all of whom carried the same tower shields that the armored rhinos were using.

"What the hell does that mean?" Lupina asked confused as the pandas walked away, towards the pass.

"They will roll them." Po grinned and moved after his race mates.

"Send the second and eighth wolf battalion to secure the panda's flanks." Lupina ordered his signaler, who blew several notes into the large horn he carried.

The two chosen wolf units, both somewhat depleted after having incurred losses against the rats, disentangled themselves from their fight, the entire line moving to accommodate their absence. After a short period of reassembling, they ran forward, blocking the sides of the panda line against any attacks.

The pandas, much to Lupina's surprise and awe, were an unstoppable force. Carrying the tower shields like battering rams as if they weighed nothing, they blasted any rat in front of them out of their way, trampling them to mush or pushing them aside where the wolves then dispatched them. Lupina ordered his command unit to follow the pandas into the pass so he could both get an overview of what was coming through and to watch the pandas work.

With his elite guards killing any enemy that came close, Lupina made it into the dugouts, where archers were still shooting their arrows, picking off any rat coming too close. The panda line contracted, the walls on both sides of the pass getting too narrow for them and like an experienced military unit, the pandas on the outside dropped their shields and got behind those with shields.

The pandas ran into more resistance as more rats opposed them, a precursor to the vast number of enemies coming up the serpentine. Up above them, eagles circled, watching the entire scenario and using their screeches to relay information to their leader who was perching on the cliffs above the dugout.

He saw the Dragon Warrior walk into the pass, could even see the smile on his face when the pandas began doing something Lupina had never seen before. When they had reached the highest point of the pass, each panda dropped his shield and jumped forward, rolling the air to land on his shoulder before simply rolling down the incline.

Lupina wondered what the pandas planned to achieve by simply pushing most of the rats they hit out of the way without killing or incapacitating them but when they left the part of the pass that had walls on both sides and got to the point where the left turned into a cliff, he saw the genius of it. The panda on the right, the one Po had identified as his father, was in front, the entire unit creating a wedge that had its foremost point not in the middle but against the right wall.

Rolling like that, the pandas worked like a snowplow. Any panda that hit a rat pushed that rat to his left where the next panda did the same all the way until they reached to leftmost side where the luckless rats fell down the cliff in droves. Panicked shrieks accompanied the action, the enemy coming up the serpentine in tight formations and they subsequently, with some few who were rolled over but survived, all died a shrieking death after plummeting down the sheer cliff walls until they impacted on their comrades on the lower serpentine.

Lupina felt trepidation when the pandas reached the curve and feared that these valiant creatures would simply roll over the cliff as well and die. But thanks to some apparently innate skill, the entire formation turned, every panda turning with the road and continuing their path of mayhem through the enemy lines.

"General, the armored battalion has reached the pass." an aide told him.

Lupina turned around and saw the armored rhinos move forward, each lumbering step taking them closer to the choke point their comrades had occupied before. One of the flanking battalions, primarily consisting of the former criminal boars ran forward and manhandled their dead out of the way so the replacements could take up position.

"Open the shield wall and create a space two rhinos wide." Lupina ordered.

"But General, it would take at least a minute to close it again and form ranks." a rhino officer behind him cautioned.

"Do it, dammit." Lupina growled, pointing at the entrance to the pass where the pandas were running up as fast as their legs could carry them.

The rhino officer shouted an order and two rhinos in the middle opened their shields, stepping aside. As if they had trained it before, the rhinos in the other rows did some steps to the side and back until a narrow way was opened all the way through. The pandas, seeing their option, lined themselves up and ran through the gap.

"I hope we get it closed fast enough, otherwise the rat reinforcements will break through." the officer said.

"Leave that to us." Po announced his arrival, his fellow masters behind him, all their faces grim and bloody.

The Masters jumped out of the dugout into the pass, letting the pandas run past. Po gave every panda a slap on the shoulder before taking his place in the middle of the furious five. When the rats hit them, the masters exploded into action, displaying a skill in martial arts that every soldier witnessing it would tell their grandchildren about.

While the rhinos reorganized themselves into a solid line again, Po disentangled himself from the fight and ran after his race-mates before the line closed, his large bulk unable to overcome it any other way. When the shield wall was locked again, one of the wolves in the archer dugout blew a horn and the other masters ran back to the defense line, Tigress and Monkey jumping over the first line and running over the heads of the rhinos, Crane flying above them and the others going through their legs. The remaining rats turned and fled, running away as fast as their short legs could carry them, most even dropping their weapons to shed weight.

"How's the situation?" Po asked Lupina, who had exited the dugout again.

"It's time for the butcher's bill." the wolf general sighed.

"What?" Monkey asked.

"Counting our losses and injured." Lupina explained and left them alone to confer with several units who were administering aid to the wounded while eagles flew over the battlefield, their sharp eyes taking in everything.

"Look at all that." Viper sighed, looking around to see thousands of dead bodies from both sides before sliding off to help with the wounded.

"Are you okay?" Po asked Tigress, who seemed on the verge of gagging.

"I feel weird." she admitted. "That smell is killing me."

"Come on, lets get you into camp." Po said and took her hand, squeezing it in sympathy.

"Guys." Monkey stopped them, looking around. "Where's Mantis?"

* * *

Mantis peeked out of his hiding place, a loose flap of one of the rat's clothing, his body not fully hidden but nobody seemed to notice him. He had been about to run back to their camp but when decided that they needed information from inside the enemy's camp, not just aerial views done by the eagles.

He knew that if he was found, they'd try to kill him on the spot but he had confidence that his speed would make it possible for him to flee any danger. The rat kept running, probably afraid of the masters coming after them, and after half an hour, they reached the bottom of the serpentine. Mantis looked out and saw a wooden palisade pass them by, indicating that the rat had reached the camp. When it stopped, Mantis quickly jumped off and hit in one of the dark tents, so he could wait for nightfall.

Hours later, when it was dark outside, the area illuminated by torches and creating a lot of shadows, Mantis crept out of his hiding place. He kept to the dark areas, watching an uncountable number of rats sleeping or sitting around, some looking like they had no idea what was happening. His excursion brought him to other areas, where he saw rats training for battle, large rats shouting commands that the smaller rats were eager to follow.

As he looked around, he noticed another unit of rats marching out of one of the holes in the ground and from the other way, carts laden with the slain rats were pulled the other way. He decided to take a peek downstairs and quickly ran towards one of the carts, jumping under it and pressing himself against the bottom.

When they entered the underground area, he heard loud squeaks, deeper in pitch than the other rats but somewhat pained. When the carts stopped, he waited, seeing the legs of rats coming closer and removing the dead bodies from his transport. He waited until most of the rats were gone and dropped to the ground, quickly crawling up the wall to the ceiling where it was dark.

He moved towards another side room from where he could hear sounds of hacking. He looked inside and saw, to his revulsion, the rats in aprons taking apart the corpses of their slain, dividing them into small globs of raw and bloody flesh. He had expected them to burn the bodies to avoid diseases but what they were doing was strange to him. When another rat came in with a large bucket that was filled with the hacked flesh, Mantis crawled over the ceiling, following the rat with the basket.

He had thought that he had seen the worst but he was disabused of that notion when they reached their new destination. He saw an enormous chamber which was the source for the loud squeaks and when he saw what animals made those, he thought he would throw up in disgust. He saw two rows of large rats, clearly female, tied into strange contraptions.

The rats who carried the meat stopped at the middle and several other rats in masks stepped close and took the chunks out. Another rat infused the meat with a liquid before they threw the meat into bowls in front of the female rats who quickly grabbed and consumed them. He saw other females who were currently giving birth, pressing out large litters of rats, one of the mothers even grabbing one of her newborn and eating it.

Mantis had trouble holding on to the ceiling, his revulsion almost making him fall. A lot of the people in their army had already speculated what the rats were doing with the dead bodies they hauled away but only very few had thought that they were using them as food. Disgusted, he crawled away, sneaking into more chambers where more rats with cloth on their faces were brewing something, most likely the concoction he saw them injecting into the meat.

He tried entering more chambers but he saw that these were better illuminated, which didn't allow him to sneak on the darkened ceiling. He turned around and used the same path to get back, having to pause several times to let large group of rats through, seeing more than once how handlers rushed the newborn litters into other parts of the underground complex and other rats, grown but still smaller than the soldiers they had faced, come the other way.

He was just about to leave when he heard a low growl coming from a small side room, a growl that reminded him of his fellow feline master. When he peeked into the room, he saw a cage with a haggard, emaciated tiger slumped on the floor. He checked around and saw nobody around, so he crawled down the wall and into the cage.

"Psst." he got the animal's attention, poking the female in the side, who startled and swiped at him. "Whoa, easy!"

"Who are you?" the female hissed.

"My name is Mantis." he told her. "I'm part of the defending force fighting against the rats. Who are you?"

"I'm Lyanna. I got captured months ago when me and a fellow tiger tried to free several females." she replied.

"You're Lyanna?" Mantis asked shocked. "Mistress Tigara said you were killed."

"Tigara made it?" Lyanna shot back, surprised and relieved.

"Yes, without her, we wouldn't have known about the attack. But thanks to her, we were able to fortify the passes into mainland China." Mantis nodded. "Come on, lets get you out of here."

"I can't go." Lyanna shook her head.

"What? Don't you want to get out?"

"Of course I do." she spat. "But I'm not a tiny insect, so how do you expect me to get through a camp with a million rats undetected, especially in my condition? I have a leg wound that never healed properly slowing me down."

"Point taken." Mantis sighed. "I promise you, me and my fellow masters will find a way to get you out of here."

"Don't risk anything for me." Lyanna told him. "The fact that China is resisting still is enough for me."

"Believe me, when I tell my people what they are doing down here, they will have to attack anyway." Mantis chuckled sadly and quickly jumped back to the dark ceiling when he heard other voices.

On his way out, he saw the biggest rat he had seen yet enter the room he had just left. Shaking his head at his own inability to rescue that tiger, he quickly made his way outside where he spent the hours until morning sneaking out of the camp. He had to get back to his own lines quickly to tell the General what he has seen.

Because if they didn't take out those female rats, they would never be able to win this war.

* * *

 **Done here.**

 **Review please :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry for the long time between updates. But I'm incredibly busy with work these days, the temperature is too high for me (though right now it's bearable) and I do write two other stories ^^**

 **Enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: not mine**

* * *

"So?" Po asked Crane, who had finally returned.

"I haven't found his body anywhere." Crane shook his head. "I searched the entire area where we fought together and I even went down the pass to where it curves into the serpentine. Nothing."

"Where could he be?" Tigress wondered. "We know he was with us when we fought and I haven't seen him fall. He certainly wasn't captured when the rats fled."

"I don't know." Po sighed and looked around, seeing his father in the large camp kitchen. "Listen, I'm gonna go talk to my dad."

"Okay." Tigress nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to wash myself, this smell is still making me queasy."

Po walked towards the camp, passing the area where the wounded were triaged. Several rabbits and pigs walked around, administering medicine and wrapping bandages around wounds. He noticed several severe cases, knowing that some of them wouldn't make it. Viper helped where she could, her experience with brewing medicinal concoctions a big help in this effort.

"Hey dad." Po said to his father after arriving at the large kitchen area, where Li and several more pandas were cooking, giving the other staff a much needed rest.

"Po." Li nodded. "I'd hug you but I kinda have my hands full."

"It's okay." Po chuckled. "How did you hear about the war?"

"A messenger came into the village, carrying an imperial edict." Li replied. "At first we thought its wording was hyperbole but it said that the Dragon Warrior was also at the front, bravely defending China. And since you're my son, I decided to go. The ones who came with me all volunteered."

"We're glad you're here." Po smiled. "I think I wouldn't exaggerate when I say that you and our people saved the day."

"Is it like this every day or was this an exception?" Li asked.

"Normally, the fighting is limited to the pass." Po told him. "Our defenses are usually very solid and I guess they will now alter their tactics a bit so that what happened today doesn't happen again."

"Okay." Li nodded and looked around before turning his head back to Po, a wide grin on his face. "And I'm glad that you and Master Tigress are still an item."

"Thanks dad." Po grinned just as wide.

"So, can I look forward to being a grandfather?"

"What... what do you mean?"

"Po, I watched her in the village. Under all that scoffing and bafflement, when you trained us, I saw her feelings towards little Lei Lei. She' definitely ready to be a mother."

"Yeah, well..." Po hesitated, suddenly embarrassed to talk about his love life with his father.

"Po, what's on your mind?"

"Will it bother some of us?" Po asked. "I mean, we pandas aren't that numerous in the first place."

"If you mean, would we as a race prefer you producing lots of panda babies, then of course we would." Li chuckled. "But who are we to dictate who you love?"

"Alright." Po shrugged.

"And if you decide to procreate, if it's even possible to crossbreed, then we will see either a very fat tiger..."

"Dad!" Po whined.

"... or the leanest, meanest striped panda the world has ever seen." Li finished with a laugh.

"Can I help with something?"

"Sure, son, we always need a few hands who can cook. The soldiers need to get their strength back." Li nodded and then sighed, looking at the soldiers, sitting with their heads hanging. "And their morale."

"I'll help you in a minute, I need to talk to General Lupina." Po said and put down the ladle he had taken before walking to the one-eyed wolf who was talking to his subordinates.

"Okay, Po." Li nodded and went back to his cooking.

"General?" Po got the wolf's attention.

"Dragon Warrior." Lupina greeted him. "What can I do for you?"

"Do we have a tally of the final losses?" Po asked.

"Yeah, our eagles counted the dead." Lupina sighed. "We lost about ten thousand troops in all. The boar units were hit especially hard. You know those bandits we conscripted?"

"What about them?" Po nodded.

"They died almost to a man. The survivors are barely enough to make a company." Lupina told him. "They more than earned their pardons today. And you know what? I offered them release from the army and not a single one of them accepted it. All want to continue to fight."

"I guess they realize the danger to China. Not really much to steal if your country gets overrun by an enemy that seems to have unlimited manpower to guard everything." Po mused.

"I keep wondering about that." Lupina said, his mind back to military matters, and pointed to the piles of rat corpses that the units appointed to cleaning duty were building so they could be burned. "At some point, their losses must hurt them. They lost almost seventy thousand troops today. Add that to the tens of thousands we already killed in the last few weeks and you come to a very high number. Who can sustain that level of attack?"

"Apparently the rats can't right now, it's quiet in the pass." Po shrugged.

"Which could mean that they're preparing another big attack soon."

"Po!" Monkey called over, the simian running over to them, with a certain mantis beside him. "Mantis is back."

"Mantis!" Po greeted his friend happily. "Where have you been?"

"I sneaked into the enemy's camp." Mantis said. "I thought we needed some better information than the ones the eagles could give us."

"And did you find anything?" Lupina asked.

"Plenty." Mantis nodded. "And all of it disturbing."

"Gather my unit commanders." Lupina told one of his aides. "Strategy meeting in five minutes in the command center. Dragon Warrior, I want you and your fellow Masters to attend too."

"We'll be there." Po nodded.

"I need some food first." Mantis said.

"I'll bring some." Monkey told him and started towards the kitchen.

Po ran to the infirmary and informed Viper and Crane, who was helping her, about the upcoming meeting. He exited the building again and looked around for Tigress, checking the area where the tigers had made camp before remembering that Tigress wanted to clean her fur of the blood that had splattered on her. With that in mind, he ran to the cleaning rooms, seeing only one with the door closed. He quickly went to it and opened the door, finding his Tigress with her back to him, using a cloth to clean her fur.

"Eek!" Tigress shrieked and took a swipe at him, hitting him on the cheek, while trying to cover herself with a towel.

"Ow!" Po howled in pain when her claws pierced his skin.

"Oh, I'm sorry my love." Tigress apologized and soothed the spot by stroking it, dropping her towel again, having no problem being naked in front of him. "You could have knocked."

"I know, I'm sorry." he conceded the point, his bulk blocking the view of anyone who might be out there behind him.

"What's so important?"

"Mantis is back." Po said excitedly.

"What?" Tigress asked shocked. "Where was he?"

"He sneaked into the enemy's camp and has information. Lupina called a strategy meeting in his command post and wants us there."

"Alright." Tigress said and rubbed the moisture out of her fur before donning her wraps and robe.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked concerned.

"A bit." she nodded. "Not having to smell blood all the time is nice."

Together, they walked briskly to the command bunker where other officers were also walking into. Tigress noticed Crane and Viper entering the building and a minute later, she and Po were inside as well, seeing about two dozen high ranking officers around the large table in the middle. Seeing it, Tigress appreciated the genius of the building design, the glass-covered hole in the roof along with several mirrors allowing sunlight to illuminate the strategy table, though she had no idea what they would do if it was cloudy or night.

"Mantis." Tigress greeted her fellow master. "Good to see you're well."

"Thanks." a still visibly shaken Mantis returned.

"Master Mantis, if you could start." Lupina prompted him. "Base layout, enemy numbers, any other information."

"Okay, the various enemy units seem to be divided into sections of the camp and they also guard each section." Mantis began.

"Which might indicate a pendant for infighting." Tigress mused.

"Quite." Lupina nodded.

"Anyway, the rats have dug a large tunnel system under the base. I didn't see all of it, but it could very well be as large or even more massive than the base on top." Mantis continued. "And down there..."

"Mantis?" Po asked him. "What's wrong?"

"I found out why they're collecting their dead."

"Go on." Viper laid her tail end comfortingly on her friend.

"They're using the meat of the fallen as food for their females." Mantis swallowed, upset. "Their females are big and bloated and give birth to dozens of young. They seem to be completely feral. I watched a female eat one of her newborn young because she was able to grab it."

"Get to the pass. Get a unit for cleanup duty to collect the rat corpses from the pass. Tell the eagles to harass any rat that tries collecting their dead." Lupina ordered one of his aides who quickly exited the command post to relay those orders. "We're going to burn every rat corpse we get our hands on and we're not going to allow them to gather their dead anymore if we can prevent it."

"They're also adding some liquid to the meat that they're feeding to their female." Mantis added. "But I admit I have no idea what that is."

"Maybe it's a fertility drug." Viper suggested. "Giving birth to that many younglings must be taxing."

"Master Mantis, how many females did you see?" one of the wolf officers asked.

"The cavern wasn't well lit but there are at least several dozen." Mantis replied.

"We have to assume that there might be more than a hundred, given how many rats have attacked us every day since we're here." Lupina interjected.

"One more thing." Mantis got their attention back. "The rats have a tiger prisoner."

"They do?" Tigress asked shocked.

"Yeah, a female. I couldn't save her since she would have been unable to get out of the camp like me." Mantis confirmed. "She said her name was Lyanna."

"She's alive?" a shriek from behind them startled them all.

"Mother!" Tigress said, eyes wide. "When did you get here?"

"I heard there was a meeting going on and I was hoping that we might see some real plans to extinguish the threat." Tigress told the assembled crowd. "We have to rescue her right now!"

"It's not that easy." Lupina sighed.

"You listen to me..."

"Tigara, please stop." Po said calmly, laying a hand on his mate's mother. "He's right."

"Mistress Tigara, I'm not unsympathetic to your plight. And I know that we have to attack, though for a different reason." Lupina continued. "If we don't take out their breeders, we will never win this. I want suggestions as to how we can do this."

"A surprise attack is out of the question." another wolf officer said. "They'll see us coming down the serpentine long before we reach the camp, giving them enough time to form a defensive line."

"And since they're more numerous, they would simply surround us." another added. "The very reason our defense works so well is a hindrance in attack."

"Master Mantis, can you point on this map, where the females are located?" Lupina asked, pointing to the map on the table where the rat camp was drawn with surprising accuracy.

"Okay, wait." Mantis hesitated and walked over the map, trying to found out which side of the camp he had been on. "There's the hole I entered. Then I walked straight and took a slight left turn after a few dozen meters, so I would guess here." he explained, pointing to a spot on the map.

"Damn." Lupina sighed. "It's too far inside the camp for a commando mission at night. We could never get enough forces down the sheer cliff sides to finish that mission."

"We have to do something." Monkey interjected.

"Master Monkey, the mission is to infiltrate a camp filled with hundreds of thousands of enemies, going down into an underground network we have no maps for and no knowledge how many rats are down there as well with the goal to kill an undetermined number of breeders who, by all descriptions, seem to be very large and aggressive."

"Point taken." Monkey nodded.

"General!" a soldier got his commander's attention. "We have word from the scouts. Enemy reinforcements are coming from from the west."

"How many and how long until they get here?" Lupina wanted to know.

"At least two hundred thousand and if they don't change their speed, they will arrive at the enemy camp in three days."

"Dammit!" Lupina growled and swiped the map from the table. "We're basically back where we started."

"General." another aide tried to get the wolf's attention. "The Emperor wants to speak to you."

"What?" Po asked shocked. "The Emperor is here?"

"No, Dragon Warrior." the aide shook his head. "He calls via the communication crystals."

"The what?" Mantis was confused.

"They are an advancement of the scrying crystals the scouts use to relay information." the aide told him. "Two stones get connected, then they can be used to communicate over any distance."

"Dragon Warrior, walk with me." Lupina said. "I want you to be a part of the conversation."

"Sir, that's not possible, we only have one stone connected to the one the Emperor holds."

"It will work if we both touch the stone at the same time."

Po followed the one-eyed wolf into a small side chamber where a green, glowing crystal sat under a small glass dome to keep dust away from it. The aide removed the glass cover and stepped aside, allowing Po and Lupina to approach the gem. When Po had his hand near it, his fur began to stand on end and his teeth felt as if they were vibrating.

"That's a very strange feeling." Po remarked.

"I know but it will subsist when we touch it." Lupina returned. "Now together, in three, two, one, now!"

Po and Lupina both wrapped their right hand around the crystal at the same time, creating the connection to the other crystal hundreds of miles away with their minds. Po felt as if he was falling into a vortex, a sudden dizziness making it feel as if he was losing his mind to oblivion. As sudden as the sensation was, it was gone in an instant, replaced by a feeling of warmth and when Po opened his eyes, he was standing in the open-air area of his father's restaurant, with Lupina standing next to him and the Emperor sitting at one of the tables.

"Wow, this is so COOL!" Po exclaimed.

"Dragon Warrior, what a pleasant surprise." the emperor said, his voice reflecting both genuine surprise and also some rebuke.

"My liege." Lupina bowed to him. "I brought the Dragon Warrior so he can corroborate my information."

"Emperor." Po followed the wolf's example, having noticed his error, but couldn't hide his excitement. "This is so awesome! How can we be at my father's restaurant?"

"We're not." the emperor chuckled. "The crystals create a meeting place in our minds that we are most comfortable with. I myself see us in the antechamber of my private quarters in the imperial palace."

"And for me, we are standing around my strategy table." Lupina added. "My lord, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I need information on how the war is going." the red crane asked. "It's becoming a struggle to keep supply levels the way they are. The granaries are emptying and it will be a few months before the harvest."

"This morning, the rats managed to break through our defensive lines." Lupina sighed. "We have fought all day to contain the breach and reseal it again. A large credit for that goes to the pandas that came with the reinforcements. But we lost about ten thousand troops in the effort."

"And how many did the enemy lose?" the emperor asked.

"Many times that. But unfortunately, they have vast reserves and just a few minutes ago, I got scout information that the enemy is receiving reinforcements soon."

"He speaks the truth." Po added. "But we made some progress today. Master Mantis took it upon himself to infiltrate the enemy camp after the battle and he made a disturbing discovery."

"Which is?"

"The enemy is feeding their dead to their breeders, who then birth dozens of new rats with each litter. Master Mantis was unable to find out how many breeders they have but given the numbers of enemies we had to face every day since the struggle began, we estimate at least a hundred if not more."

"And what are you going to do about it?" the emperor demanded to know.

"The first thing we instituted is to collect their dead and burn them..." Lupina began.

"Why wasn't that done from the beginning?" the red crane interrupted angrily.

"My lord, we had no idea what they were doing with the corpses and why they were so determinted to collect them after each battle." Po interjected. "We saw it as a boon because it saved us the trouble of cleaning the pass after every battle and it prevented outbreaks of diseases."

"Are you planning an attack to end the threat?" the emperor asked again.

"We can't." Lupina abnegated. "Not without a lot of reinforcements."

"There aren't any." the emperor said. "Bandit activity is already on the rise in the northern and middle China regions because our remaining forces are stretched so thin. We have conscripted more troops but they still need to be trained."

"My lord, what authority do I have in long term planning?" Lupina asked.

"What do you mean?"

"As of today, we have no way of defeating the enemy with the troops and weaponry we have. By the same token, the enemy doesn't really have a way of defeating us as long as our defense line holds. We might be able to barter a truce or a peace treaty but we also might have to concede territory, which seems to be what the enemy wants to get from us." Lupina explained.

"Alright." the red crane sighed. "If the stalemate can't be broken within the next three months, you are authorized to negotiate a peace treaty and I also give you authorization to hand the southern regions to the rats. It's not as if any of our people still live there."

"But wouldn't the danger still remain?" Po asked.

"Yes, but I think we could lower the troop levels and with the right surveillance method, we don't need to keep an active defensive line in the pass." Lupina nodded. "Also, I presume that the enemy, if they want more territory, might turn their sights to the south where there's no pass to fight through but they'll find the Bengal- and Indian tiger tribes to be tough foes. I saw that our feline forces have a particular hatred for these rats."

"I will leave you to your strategizing." the emperor said, as if to tell them that they were still in a meeting with their lord.

"My lord." Lupina bowed, Po following his example.

"How do we get out of here?" Po asked.

"Simply imagine you letting go of the crystal." Lupina chuckled and disappeared, the emperor disappearing as well.

Po concentrated and suddenly found himself back in the chamber where the aide to the General placed the glass cover back over the crystal. He shook off the aftereffects of the communication and left the room, returning to the waiting officers and Kung Fu Masters.

"That was quick." Tigress mentioned.

"Really?" Po wondered. "We talked for quite some time."

"Time flows differently when you're in communion, since the communication is directly inside your head." Lupina told him. "Anyway, we have authorization from the Emperor to wage this war the way we need to and even to make peace if the opportunity arises."

"What?" Tigara growled. "Make peace with these savages?"

"Mistress Tigara, there's not much else to be done." Lupina growled right back. "Unless you manage to somehow conjure up a hundred thousand extra troops. And even then victory wouldn't be assured, especially since the enemy is getting strong reinforcements in three days."

"I apologize." Tigara said.

"Now, lets discuss." Lupina threw into the round. "I want to hear some suggestions as to how we might finish this war."

* * *

 **Going to stop here. Wanted to write a little more but I'll save that for the next chapter since I got to go to work now.**

 **Review please :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**I know I don't update this story as fast as you might want, but I can't help it, sorry.**

 **Still, enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: not mine**

* * *

"We're in trouble." Korgana stated bluntly, only because they were alone in Baribusa's private room in the command center.

"How so?" Baribusa asked, not looking up from his small table where he was trying to find a strategy to break the stubborn defense line their enemies had reestablished.

"Apparently, the enemy has realized why we are collecting the dead after each battle." Korgana sighed, flopping down on one of the wooden chairs.

"How?" Baribusa countered. "Their aerial scouts haven't been anywhere near the camp, much less below ground."

"I don't know." Korgana shook his head. "But whatever they know or don't know, or how they know it, they are not allowing us to collect our dead anymore."

"What?" Baribusa lifted his head.

"After each attack wave, they used to let the slaves collect the dead, even helping us by shoving them forward. I guess they thought it would prevent disease outbreaks or cleanup work on their part but now, they're putting arrows into every slave that gets close to their line." Korgana explained. "According to reports from our returning forces, they collect the dead themselves and if the dark clouds are an indicator, they're burning them."

"We have to stop the continuous attacks." Baribusa sighed. "At least until we find a source of meat."

"Already ordered." Korgana nodded. "I think we should only commit to an attack if we have a truly overwhelming force."

"What are you getting at?"

"Easy. We have to use our dead as a way to overcome their lines."

"Are you saying you want to throw troops at them until our dead are stacked so high that we can essentially use them as steps and walk over their shield wall?" Baribusa asked, looking askance.

"Or until they have to step back so far that they exit the pass." Korgana confirmed.

"Out of the question." Baribusa shook his head. "If their scouts see us assemble our entire force, you can bet that they will move forward in the pass to have more room to walk backwards. If that happened, it would take three quarters of our force simply to fill the pass with dead and that wouldn't even mean that we could kill even one of the defenders."

"So what are the options here?" Korgana asked. "Without our dead, we can't feed the breeders enough meat to replace our losses. We can't really hunt for game since any feral has been driven away by the sheer number of our forces and the smell of our waste heaps. And the few predators that remain and who snatch up the occasional slave aren't enough to create more than four or five litters."

"So what would you suggest?" Baribusa prompted him.

"Look here." Korgana said and rolled out a map of the region. "We own the entire south lands as far as we know. That's plenty of room for us to live in. The north is only accessible by these three passes and the other two are even harder to get through than this one. If we really need to conquer new lands, the south would be easier to access."

"According to Lyanna, the inhabitants in the south are felines, even more ferocious than the ones we beat in the west."

"Who is Lyanna?" Korgana asked.

"Our feline prisoner." Baribusa replied, not even looking at him as Korgana looked surprised that his commanding officer was referring to a prisoner by name.

"How many felines are down there?" Korgana continued, ignoring that fact for now.

"Unknown." Baribusa told him. "But look at the map. The jungles are thick and extensive. And see this area that has nothing in it?"

"Yeah." Korgana nodded.

"That means unknown. A vast area of the southern lands have never been explored."

"So what do we do?" Korgana wondered. "Feed the same things to our breeders that our troops eat?"

"If we have to." Baribusa nodded.

"But if we only give them fungi and blindfish, their birthrate will drop tremendously." Korgana said, referring to the type of fish they were able to breed in their underground water cisterns. "We would need months to create a strong attack force."

"I know." Baribusa agreed. "But what else can we do? Their aerial scouts see everything we do. So unless we dig underground tunnels towards the other passes and then send large troop contingents to attack those in the hopes they might break through, we can't really do anything."

"By the way, any word from the northwestern battlefields?" Korgana changed the subject slightly.

"No." Baribusa shook his head. "Any reports would go to Xinan anyway."

"Knowing Snikkar, he's already frontal-assaulted himself and his army to death." Korgana scoffed.

"I'm concerned about the ramifications." Baribusa mused. "A highly motivated, veteran force of felines could be coming at us from our rear."

"They would have to get past Xinan first." Korgana shrugged. "And I doubt they would go through the forests further to the north, the terrain is unsuited to large troop movements."

"Don't underestimate them, they might simply do it just to get revenge." Baribusa sighed again. "It's all going to hell."

"I've never seen you so glum." Korgana chuckled sadly.

"How can I be happy? I've spent the entire morning tallying the numbers of our losses, not just from the last attack but since we began this war."

"And?" Korgana asked.

"Assuming that Snikkar's force has been annihilated completely and counting the fight against the felines as well, then the siege at Xinan and of course the fighting here, we've lost about one point two million troops. Plus the twenty breeders I've sent Snikkar."

"That many?" Korgana was nonplussed.

"Granted, more than half of those were barely-trained newborns we've sent to keep the enemy busy but still, we've already lost more troops than we came with."

"Enemy losses?"

"All together or here?"

"Here."

"Maybe eleven thousand." Baribusa shrugged. "We did a lot of damage during the attack that got through before we were pushed back. Otherwise, we haven't really had any success killing even one of the defenders, since their armor is so thick."

"So what do we do?" Korgana wondered. "Ask for an armistice or wait them out?"

"I doubt the Shadow Council will leave me in command or even alive if I try to nbegotiate a truce." Baribusa chuckled. "But waiting them out might be the best strategy for now. While we can feed our forces with the mushrooms and blindfish we can grow in the caverns, the enemy must need a lot more food to keep their troops strong."

"General!" an aide rushed into the room.

"What is it?" Baribusa asked.

"Sir, Lord Rattus has..."

"Out of my way, runt." the aforementioned rat growled and shoved his way past the poor soldier, stopping in front of Korgana and Baribusa, who had stood up and walked in front of his table.

"Lord Rattus." Baribusa greeted his lord, bowing his head just enough to show his scorn without outright disrespect. "When did you arrive?"

"Last hour." Rattus replied. "I brought the army and the remaining breeders from Xinan."

"Did you leave enough forces to defend it?" Korgana asked.

"Yes, there are still a hundred thousand of us there to protect the fifty breeders that are still there." Rattus replied.

"You think they are enough to stop the old enemy or the felines from the northwest if they have followed us?" Baribusa continued Korgana's train of thought.

"If they had followed us, they would have caught up by now." Rattus waved them off. "Why aren't you attacking?"

"Because they appear to have figured out that we collect the dead to feed our breeders." Korgana told him. "They aren't letting us recover them anymore."

"And without their meat, we can't replenish our forces in numbers enough to cause them more than a nuisance." Baribusa finished.

"That will soon be remedied." Rattus said resolutely. "At my behest, our alchemists have outdone themselves."

"What are you talking about?" Baribusa wondered.

"Come and look." Rattus waved them after him and almost hopped outside, like a youngling who got candy.

Baribusa and Korgana looked at each other and followed their lord. When they exited the building, they saw battalion after battalion marching out of the camp to assemble on the field before the serpentine. Baribusa shook his head, looking up to see their aerial scouts circling, one of them already flying back to the enemy base, no doubt to tell his superior to assemble their own defense force.

"What the hell?" Baribusa did a double take when they reached the open area at the camp gates, seeing row upon row of big rats, larger than himself and his storm troopers. "Who are they?"

"They are our newest creation." Rattus hopped with glee. "Aren't they beautiful? They are a thousand strong so far."

"They are certainly big." Korgana agreed. "But even our storm troopers haven't had much luck getting through their lines."

"And how were they trained?" Baribusa wanted to know, looking at the large rats, none of them moving.

"That's why we will use these." Rattus grinned evilly, ignoring Baribusa's question, and pointed to several covered wagons out of view of the regular troops and catapults that were rolling out of the camp already.

"What's on them?" Korgana asked while Baribusa limped over to them and opened the tarp on the closest.

"Bloody hell!" Baribusa shouted in shock when he saw the oversized gas globules sitting in water. "Are you insane? We can't use that gas!"

"What?" Korgana echoed his superiors shock.

"It's quite safe." the alchemist close to the wagon said. "If one would burst, the water they sit in would dissolve the gas, since it's heavier than air and sinks down upon release."

"We don't even know if the gas kills them but we do know for a fact that it will our forces quickly." Korgana argued.

"That's the beauty of our new assault soldiers." Rattus cackled, appearing to have lost his sanity. "They're immune to it."

"How did you make them immune?" Baribusa asked and walked over to the waiting so-called assault rats.

"Our alchemists took care of that." Rattus told him, as Baribusa stopped in front of one of the rats.

"You. How long have you been trained." he asked but the only thing he got as answer was a growl and a hiss. "What's wrong with them."

"They can't talk." one of the alchemists told him while Rattus came over.

"Why can't they talk?" Baribusa grew more confused. "We learn talking when we learn how to fight."

"We altered the potion we're feeding to our breeders to accelerate their growth and increase their size, as well as inducing absolute loyalty in our lord." the alchemist explained. "Unfortunately, the same side effects of reduced higher cognitive function apply. And unlike the breeder potion, the cognitive function doesn't return once they don't ingest anymore of it and their metabolism has digested it."

"These things are abominations!" Baribusa shouted.

"Watch your tone." Rattus warned. "You may be the best strategist we have, but you're not replaceable."

"We can't..." Baribusa started but then one thing the alchemist had said came back to him. "Wait, what was that about the breeders and their cognitive function?"

"The potion diminishes it down to their base instincts while increasing their fertility." the alchemist replied.

"I know that, I meant the other thing about it returning." Baribusa clarified.

"Yes, when the potion is discontinued, the breeders would eventually return to what they used to be." the alchemist nodded. "But if we do that, they would also lose their size and the ability to produce as much offspring."

"You turned our females into monsters!" Baribusa howled in rage. "Why would you do this?"

"Without it, we wouldn't have been able to wage the war against the old enemy." Rattus argued.

"A war that we started!" Baribusa went on. "And our females were changed before the war against the old enemy started!"

"The Shadow Council demanded it." Rattus shrugged, getting tired of his subordinate. "We needed troops to fight them."

"That's all I ever hear, the Shadow Council this, the Shadow Council that. They sit wherever they sit and give us impossible commands while we are out here fighting and dying." Baribusa raged. "And for what? To see our once proud race diminished and exiled from our home? To see hundreds of thousands of us slaughtered to gain nothing?"

"The Shadow Council..." the alchemist started but his voice broke something inside Baribusa.

"TO HELL WITH THE SHADOW COUNCIL!" Baribusa screamed and grabbed his broadsword from his back.

Still screaming in rage, Baribusa swung the sword and cleaved the alchemist in half, the left and right part of his body collapsing and his blood showering the enraged General. He turned on his lord with teeth clenched and saw the cowardly rat scramble back but before he could take a step to do the same thing to his lord, a heavy blow landed on his head and his world went dark.

"A pity." Rattus mused, walking back to the unconscious form of his now former army leader and looking at Korgana. "Throw him into one of the cisterns. A few days on water only should show him the error of his ways. Or kill him."

"No." Korgana shook his head. "He was right, this isn't how it should be."

"Very well." Rattus eyed the other General. "Throw them both into the cisterns. I will deal with you once the attack is over."

While four of his assault rats carried the two disobedient offers away to throw them into the cistern, Rattus exited the camp and ordered the assault, his mind unable to recognize that the birds flying high above the camp were already telling the enemy that his army was coming.

* * *

"You feeling better?" Po asked Tigress, who was sitting on her bed, her upper body leaning forward.

"A little." Tigress sighed, trying to get her roiling stomach under control.

"Maybe you ate too much this time." Po tried to lift her spirits.

"Or maybe the food wasn't prepared properly." she quipped back, smiling weakly when he acted as if she had stabbed him in the heart for criticizing his cooking.

"Still, you're eating a lot more since we got here." he reasoned.

"I'm hungry all the time and I have to keep my strength up. Who knows when these rats break through again." she shrugged before a tolling bell interrupted their conversation.

"Another attack alarm." Po sighed and opened the door. "Come on, lets go to the command center."

She followed him out of their building and saw troops running to and fro, putting on armor and grabbing weapons. She noticed two rhino battalions gearing up in their thick armor and devastating weapons. Since the breakthrough two days ago, General Lupina had issued a standing order that, besides the battalion guarding the pass, two more rhino battalions needed to be on constant alert and that at the first sign of a new large attack, they should gear up and cover the mouth of the pass.

"General." Po greeted the wolf, who was issuing orders to his forces.

"Dragon Warrior. Masters." Lupina nodded to Po and the other Masters as they congregated. "It seems the rats are serious again."

"How many?" Crane asked.

"When I left..." the scout began but then another burst into the command center.

"You have more information?" Lupina asked the newcomer.

"Yes." the eagle nodded. "As of my departure, fifty thousand troops had assembled in front of the camp. They also have catapults this time."

"Get our own catapults ready." Lupina ordered.

"We have catapults?" Po asked surprised.

"Did you think we hauled those pieces of wood on top of the dugouts to build outhouses with a view?" Lupina's quartermaster chuckled and Po noticed that he had only one finger left on his left hand.

"I'm sorry, I never got your name." Po said to him.

"Rhinax." the rhino said and noticed Po looking at his hand. "Yeah, lost these against a few bandits. But I know how to plan and execute military supply plans."

"Sir, the second and fourth guard battalions are on their way to the mouth of the pass." an aide told the general.

"Good, lets hope we don't need them for anything else than relief duty for the eighth." Lupina nodded.

"We're heading to the dugout, so we can help if necessary." Po stated.

"Can you also talk to your panda friends?" Lupina asked. "Tell them to grab some spare shields so they can clear the pass like they did the last time, should the enemy break through."

"I'll do that." Po nodded.

"There's one bright side to this attack." Mantis interjected to relieve the tension. "They can't replace their losses as fast as they used to anymore."

"Great." Monkey deadpanned and left the building first.

Po followed him and took a deep breath once outside. He hated killing with all his heart but knew that he would quite possibly have to do it again today, after he had already ended the life of several hundred enemies a few days ago. In all his life before this war, he had never killed. Even Lord Shen had only died because he gave up on life, Po had seen how he had closed his eyes and let the ship mast fall on him.

"Dad!" Po called to his father who was, as usual, in the camp's kitchen area.

"What is it son? I heard the alarm bells, is another attack coming?" Li asked.

"Yes, there is." Po nodded. "We're headed for the dugout. General Lupina asked if you and the other pandas can take up some shields and go to the mouth of the pass to roll down the pass again, should the worst come to pass."

"I will gather them." Li nodded morosely and clapped Po on the shoulder. "Stay safe, son."

"Don't worry, dad." Po sighed and looked at Tigress, who was walking towards the pass with the other masters. "I have a lot of motivation to stay alive."

Sharing a chuckle with his father, Po hurried after his friends and when they arrived at the pass, they saw the reinforcement battalions arraying themselves in a horseshoe shape around the mouth. They climbed the stairs to the dugout and walked through the tunnel to the large area at the end where archers were getting ready, some showing a weariness that didn't come from lack of sleep.

"Look, they brought some of the big ones." Mantis pointed to the other end of the pass, where Rattus' new creations were gathering in a tight formation while smaller rat units swarmed around them, hissing at the defenders. "And there are the catapults."

"Can the shields of the rhinos withstand a large rock?" Tigress asked the commanding officer in the dugout.

"If it's not too big, yes." the boar nodded. "But it would require them to lift their shields."

"Huh." Tigress hummed after a few minutes, all the while the number of smaller rats had increased. "The catapults have been standing for a while now but I don't see any rocks."

"Maybe they're still hauling them up." Monkey mused. "Could one of the eagles tell us?"

"One could." the boar nodded and spoke something into a pipe that was hanging at the back of the dugout, which was followed by a shriek from above them.

"What is that?" Po asked.

"We were tired of shouting, so we put this bamboo pipe in to communicate with the scout above us." the boar replied when another shriek came from an airborne scout.

"He doesn't see any rocks but there are several covered wagons being pulled up the serpentine." the voice of the scout above them came from the pipe.

"Either they don't have ammunition or they have rocks on those wagons." the boar said. "But if they do have rocks on them, they can't be big. Or they have one big one on each wagon."

"Seems a little superfluous then to push catapults up the pass, doesn't it?" Viper wondered.

"We'll see." Monkey said. "

The next few minutes were spent in tense silence while the enemy amassed even more. They watched as the wagons were stopped next to the catapults and were simply left there while the large rats simply stood motionless in the middle of the smaller ones. Then suddenly, as sudden as it was fast, the smaller rat soldiers in the front rank burst into motion, yelling and screaming as they ran towards the defenders.

The rhinos followed their standard procedure, having done that numerous times during the last few weeks. The front planted their shields on the ground and braced their hammers against them, along with putting one foot back to add to the resistance while the second rank readied their long spears. Several seconds passed as the rats came closer and then they were on them, crashing against the shield wall as they had done before.

And the killing began anew.

"So far nothing has changed in their tactic." Tigress stated as they watched the rats swarm and die.

"Something is happening." Crane said, pointing a wing at the catapults, where the crews were loading large green balls into the buckets, four into each.

"Crane, get up there." Po told his fellow master who nodded and flew out of the dugout and landing on the roof.

"The big ones are coming in." Monkey shouted and everyone looked at the front where they could see the large rats starting to run.

In a show of apparent tactical blunder, the catapults fired at the same time, the green globules flying high into the air and going the ballistic path to the rhino line. Some fell short and some flew past them but a number landed directly in front of on them, bursting apart and spreading their contents around.

To all their surprise, whatever was inside wasn't a liquid but a gas, spreading quickly and thickly over the entire line, some of it even billowing through the openings of the dugout and enveloping everyone inside. Po wrinkled his nose when he smelled it, like a mixture of decomposing vegetables and biological waste and other then that and that it made his eyes water, he didn't feel any other negative effects.

He looked around and saw Tigress and the other tigers coughing and throwing up, Monkey looking confused as if not knowing where he was and the boars inside the dugout fainted immediately. Outside, he heard the deep baritone of rhinos coughing hard and the high-pitched screams of the rats which sounded as if they were dying.

Through the muck, he saw the silhouettes of the large rats run through the gas cloud, apparently feeling no ill effects. They slammed against the rhinos, the shield wall broken since the defenders were unable to hold them up. Po heard the painful expressions of his fellow soldiers when swords were rammed through the eyes slits of their helmets.

"We have to help them!" Po shouted and jumped out of the dugout, landing in between the large rats and kicking and punching all around him.

"Right behind you Po." Monkey said and promptly jumped headfirst against the wall of the dugout, laying himself out cold.

"Coming." Tigress managed to say and leaped out of the dugout.

"No, Tigress!" Po called to her. "You can't fight like this."

"I won't let you do this alone." Tigress returned but before she could even lift her hands to fight, and armored foot slammed into her chest, dropping her to the ground before a spear point went into her shoulder, making her cry out in pain.

"TIGRESS!" Po yelled in anguish and his body exploded into light and motion.

"I can't breath in this." Viper panted and she crawled out of the dugout and on top of it, finding her fellow Master perched up top, unsure of what to do. "Crane, you have to clear the pass."

"Right." Crane nodded and took flight.

"You, get back to the camp and tell the reinforcements to come in, on the double." Viper ordered the scout who was also on the roof.

"Acknowledged." the scout confirmed and flew off towards their own lines.

"Wings of Justice!" Crane shouted before giving his avian shriek and flapping his wings forward, creating a gale force wind down- and forwards.

Suddenly free of the gas cloud, the surviving rhinos, slightly less than half of the original thousand, came back to their senses while the reinforcement battalions rushed forward to rescue and relieve their brethren. What everyone in range saw was the most amazing display of fighting anyone has ever seen.

Po was defending the entire width of the pass, his body moving in a blur, punching and kicking anything that came even close to the prone form of his mate. Viper jumped down into the pass, using her curled body like a spring to cushion the landing, and immediately went to her feline friend, checking on the wound of the whimpering tiger.

The reinforcement rhinos, fresh as they were, began a run when they were close to the fighting and, after expertly moving around the two Kung Fu masters and their still coughing comrades, spread out to cover the entire width of the front. Screaming in rage, the first line of the second battalion crashed into the line of rats, pushing the entire unit back by sheer weight of numbers alone.

None of the storming rhinos noticed that the smaller rats were all dead already, their skin blistered as if burned and their snouts contorted in horror and pain. They reached the end of the pass, where the road curved rightwards and slammed into the catapult line, the rhinos wearing swords slashing them down to kill any rat that stayed with the machines and snapping the ropes that held the buckets tight, causing the gas globes that were still in them to roll down the cliff.

Having destroyed the siege weapons, the rhinos stopped, the assault rats tumbling down the cliff as well. The heavy armor they had one wore them out and every rhino was breathing hard, the front line who had carried some of the assault rats barely able to lift their shields and quickly being replaced by the last line until the fourth rhino battalion came forward to take their place, allowing the second to return and take a breather.

"How... is... she?" Po panted, barely able to keep standing after the exertion he just demonstrated.

"Alive." Viper said, using some herbs and bandages from one of the dead rhino's medpacks to clean and bind Tigress's shoulder wound, the feline herself unconscious from too much gas inhalation. "We need to get her back to the infirmary."

"I'll take her." Po said and attempted to lift her but not even remotely moving her.

"Po, you're too weak right now." Viper stopped him. "Crane, take her and bring her to the infirmary."

"Will do." Crane nodded and grabbed Tigress in his feet, lifting up and flying fast back to the base.

"Po, go!" Viper ordered her friend back while slithering forward to the end of the pass to see if any of the rhinos needed help.

Seeing nothing but exhaustion, she moved towards the cliff edge and looked down. She saw the gas cloud, heavy and menacing looking and increased in size from all the broken gas globules, roll down the cliff sides like a thick liquid onto the enemy camp, rats trying to flee in droves. Viper was torn in what she should feel when she saw rats being overcome by the cloud and seeing the corpses of those that the gas cloud had already passed over.

Most of the rhinos had no idea what they were seeing, with them looking down the road at the rats that had saved themselves by staying at the outside of the curves of the serpentine, the gas moving past them. Only Viper realized that this might have been the day they had won the war.

But at what cost?

Further down, below the surface, two rat generals were sitting behind a closed door, a small hole allowing to look into the hallway leading away from the cistern. When Baribusa had noticed him and asked why he was down here with him, the reply had only been 'We're litter-mates' as explanation that Korgana's loyalty belonged to him instead of the little runt who was leading them.

"What's that?" Korgana asked and stood up, looking through the hole in the door.

"It's thousands of feet running." Baribusa said, also getting up to look, knowing the sounds from numerous battles. "Running in every direction."

"Has the enemy finally had enough and chased our forces back down the mountain into our base?" Korgana wondered.

"If they have, then it was an honor fighting with you." Baribusa said, knowing that the enemy would most likely kill them.

"Oh no!" Baribusa groaned. "I told him that using the gas was a bad idea."

"What?" Korgana asked and looked through the hole again, seeing the gas coming down into the caverns, the shrieking of the females heartbreaking as they died when the green cloud enveloped them.

"JUMP!" Baribusa shouted as his fellow general when the cloud was almost at the door to the caverns.

Their heads were just touching the water, when the gas burst through the cracks in the wall and the hole in the door. They may have survived now but neither of them knew how long they had to hold their breath.

* * *

 **BAM :D**

 **Review please :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**As usual, after updating my other two stories, another update for this one.**

 **Enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: not mine**

* * *

"My lord emperor." the pangolin bowed to get his lord's attention.

"Speak." the emperor nodded.

"We have disturbing news from the north."

"Explain."

"A messenger has come from Zhongxin-Bei." the pangolin said, referring to a large city in the north that was seen as the hub of the northern regions. "The governor there reports that large numbers of refugees are streaming past and into the city."

"Refugees?" the empress asked from her throne. "What has caused them to flee?"

"Unknown. They talk about an enemy force of untold numbers that lays waste to everything." the pangolin told her.

"Oh no." the empress gasped. "Can it be?"

"More of the enemy that besieges us in the south?" the emperor wondered and turned back to his chancellor. "Has the governor ordered a scouting force to fly out to get a look at the enemy?"

"They don't have any aerial scouts." the pangolin replied.

"Get the order to my Master of Scouts." the emperor said, writing down a hasty note and stamping it with his seal. "Have him use his fastest scouts and have them fly north to see what we are facing."

"Your will be done, my lord." the chancellor bowed, and left the room.

"What can it mean, my love?" the empress asked. "What do we do if it's really more of these rats?"

"With most of our fighting force assembled in the south, preventing the rats there from overrunning us?" the emperor sighed and sat back in his thrones, his wings over his eyes. "I don't know."

He knew that it would take their fastest scouts almost a full day to get to the north. He had added in his order that each was to carry a scrying stone and a smaller version of their communications crystals, so that they might report back quickly enough.

* * *

"How is she?" Po asked concerned, looking down at his unconscious mate and holding himself up, since he was still weakened from his exertion during the battle.

"No change so far." Viper replied, using her abilities of healing to care for her friend.

"What's different with her?" Po asked again. "The other tigers who were affected by the gas are awake again."

"The gas affected every species differently." Viper told him. "You felt only a bad smell. The smaller rats immediately died a horrible death. The big ones were immune. The rhinos had coughing fits, while boars just fainted without any aftereffects. Monkey became disoriented and I myself couldn't breath."

"But again, the other affected tigers are already awake, though they still look sick." Po pointed out. "And look at Tigress. She's unconscious and it looks as if something is bloating her stomach."

"Bloating her stomach?" Viper wondered and looked down at her friend, seeing her stomach under the clothing indeed somewhat bloated. "Po, can you hang up that cloth to prevent others from looking?"

"Sure." Po nodded, a little confused and hung up a blanket on two hooks, creating a separated space, blocked from view from the others in the infirmary.

Viper opened Tigress' clothing, and removed, with Po holding Tigress' upper body vertical, the robe her friend was wearing, leaving the unconscious Master in her wrappings. She slid down to her stomach, seeing the small bulge where there usually were only the well-defined stomach muscles that Tigress kept in top shape.

"Huh." Viper hummed.

"What? Has the gas done something? Are her intestines about to burst?" Po asked panicked, then noticed Viper's grin and starting chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"Oh Po." Viper grinned. "That bulge is something good."

"Huh?" Po's confusion got even greater.

"You're going to be a father." Viper giggled.

"Huh." Po hummed before his brain finally processed the information. "WHAAAAT?"

"Shh!" Viper shushed him. "There are other patients here."

"How can that be possible?" Po squealed, voice low but still panicked. "We're not even the same species."

"Life always finds a way." Viper still grinned. "You are going to be a dad."

"I'm going to be a grandfather?" a third voice interjected, making them turn around.

"Dad?" Po looked at the newcomer. "What are you doing here."

"I heard you were in here. The soldiers who have returned from the pass said that you fought like a demon but that you were deeply exhausted from it." Li told him and handed him a large bowl with a dark, thick liquid. "That's why I made you this."

"What is it?" Po asked, taking the bowl and sniffing at the contents, wrinkling his nose at the bad smell.

"It's a concoction my father always gave me when I needed my energy back." Li said. "Don't mind the smell. And drink it fast before it hardens."

"Great." Po huffed and put the bowl to his lips, trying not to breath while he drank the entire thing in three swigs. "Ugh, that was vile."

"And?" Li smiled while he knelt down to caress Tigress' hands.

"Hey, I'm feeling better already." Po was impressed. "Do you have something like this for tigers?"

"Unfortunately no." Li shook his head. "Also, she would need to be awake to drink it."

"Right." Po nodded and sighed.

"Dragon Warrior." Lupina got their attention. "Sorry to disturb you. We're going down to the enemy camp and I would like you to come with us."

"But..." Po was unsure.

"Po, go." Viper said. "And you can't do anything here now anyway. I will take care of her."

Po accompanied the General out of the infirmary building, joining a rhino battalion and several wolf companies as well as the personal guard of the General who were waiting for them. They marched through the pass and down the serpentine, the entire way mostly cleaned of bodies though the weapons the rats had carried were still strewn all over the place.

"Did all the rats die?" Po asked Lupina.

"No, those that were on the outside of the serpentine weren't hit by the cloud." Lupina replied. "The ones at the top attacked our forces and had to be killed but the rest surrendered. Some of the rats in the camp also survived and where taken prisoner."

"How many prisoners?" Po wanted to know.

"Ten thousand, give or take, most of them the small ones who did all their work." Lupina shrugged, referring to the rat slaves. "We're keeping them in their camp, in one of their enclosures."

"Any trouble?"

"Not really, they seem to have lost their desire to fight." Lupina shook his head. "Apparently, their entire leadership was lost when the cloud got into their camp and they don't know what to do."

"Kind of like a beehive when the queen dies?"

"Maybe, we don't know enough about them." Lupina shrugged again.

They descended the remaining way in silence, hundreds of feet marching in unison. It took almost two hours to get down the serpentine and Po was glad that they really didn't have to attack the rats' camp, for having to walk down that long way would have given the rats plenty of time to prepare their defenses. Po had to admit that Lupina had been right, this war would have been impossible to end, since the same thing that helped their defense would have completely prevented them from a decisive attack.

"This was would have been unending." Po remarked.

"Yeah." Lupina nodded, knowing what Po was getting at. "By the way, how's your fellow Master?"

"Getting better, hopefully." Po replied, not wanting to tell the General that Tigress was apparently pregnant, at least not before he had told and then get killed by Shifu.

"I keep wondering why they would use a gas that kills their own troops." Lupina said.

"I think that was just collateral damage they were willing to incur." Po said. "The larger rats seemed to be immune, only the smaller ones died."

"So you think they willingly sacrificed thousands of their troops to force a breakthrough?" Lupina asked.

"Yeah." Po nodded.

"But that doesn't make any sense." Lupina was doubtful. "They couldn't have known how the gas affected out troops. And even if it had killed our forces like it did their own, the gas cloud would have kept them out of the pass except for the big ones and those were too few to overcome our entire force."

"Except if they had more." Po remarked.

"Which they didn't, otherwise we would have seen them by now." Lupina retorted.

"Maybe they didn't expect us to blow the gas back to them." Po suggested.

"Mabe." Lupina nodded.

"Look at this place." Po sighed, seeing the devastation around them, the felled trees, the burnt ground around the large camp and the untold numbers of corpses of the rats that had still been in the camp when the cloud came down.

"Master Piccha, what can you tell us?" Lupina called out to a nervous-looking ferret that was running everywhere, taking soil samples and smelling them.

"The gas works as a dissolving agent, like acid. In the rats, it causes their lungs to dissolve and their esophagus and windpipe to rupture, leading to a quick death by massive hemorrhaging." the ferret said in a very quick manner. "But the most surprising thing is, when it comes into contact with water, the gas breaks down into its harmless components."

"Where is it?" Po asked. "The soldiers said that the cloud was quite massive when it came down the mountain."

"Most of it settled to the ground, a lot of it went into the underground chambers, killing who was down there before settling down there as well."

"So, we should tread lightly as to not stir it up?" Po asked.

"No, by now the gas is harmless." Piccha shook her head. "The ground is wet from their water delivery system."

"Where is she?" a female voice cried out from behind them.

"Tigara?" Po was surprised to see Tigress' mother coming into the camp. "Are you looking for Tigress? She' still in the infirmary."

"I know, but I'm talking about Lyanna." Tigara said, moving past the group.

"Oh." Po said, having forgotten about the tiger that got captured by the rats.

"General!" a soldier came out from underground, quickly stepping to the side when he noticed the much smaller but a lot more ferocious looking tiger stomping past him.

"Speak, soldier." Lupina ordered the rhino.

"We found two larger rats in a locked cell. They identified themselves as General Baribusa and General Korgana, respectively."

"Interesting." Lupina said, seeing the worth in two high-ranking prisoners. "Bring them out."

"Understood." the rhino saluted and went back down.

As they waited, some of the generals aides stacked up some boxes as makeshift seats and tried to clear the surrounding area from corpses. The smell was already beginning to become bothersome and Po wasn't envying the unit that got the cleanup duty for this particular situation. After several minutes, twelve heavily armed and armored rhinos escorted two large rats out of the underground area, both enemies holding their heads high and proud, though Po noticed their shocked and sad expressions when they noticed the devastation around them.

"You were generals in this army?" Lupina asked them when the two had been brought in front of them.

"I'm Rictus Baribusa, supreme military commander of these forces." the taller rat, who walked with a limp, stated.

"Rictus Korgana, second-in-command." the other one said.

"Same first name?" Po asked. "What a coincidence."

"No, Rictus is the name of our birthing female." the smaller rat, though it was only a fraction of height, told Po.

"Ah, like a family name." Po nodded.

"Anyway." Lupina interjected, with a side glance to Po. "Care to explain what you two were doing in a cell locked from the outside?"

"And how you survived the gas cloud?" Po added, then turned his head because he thought he was something moving in the corner of his eye, seeing nothing when he looked directly.

"We jumped into the water." Korgana replied.

"And as for us being locked away, we had a falling out with our leader." Baribusa continued. "He and his alchemists had perverted our troops by making them brainless, soulless abominations to use in a fight which they knew would kill thousands of our own forces."

"You mean the big rats that were immune to the gas?" Lupina asked.

"Correct." Baribusa nodded.

"Why were they an abomination?" Po wanted to know, then he saw that movement again and again saw nothing when he directly looked in that direction.

"Dragon Warrior, what's going on?" Lupina asked.

"I have the feeling there is someone moving." Po mused. "Probably nothing."

"Our alchemists have changed the potion they give our breeders to make these assault rats, as they called them, immune to the gas and completely obedient to our leader. But that gas also diminished their cognitive function." Baribusa explained. "I lost my temper and one of them must have knocked me out when I tried to kill our leader."

"Where is your leader?" Lupina inquired.

"His corpse is most likely somewhere around here." Baribusa waved his arm at the devastation around them. "He is notable because he'll be the only one wearing a medallion."

"If his corpse is here, we'll find him. Also, check the prisoners." Lupina said, waving to one of his aides to convey his orders. "But now to the important questions. How many of you are still there and why did you start this war in the first place?"

"As for how many, aside from the ones over there in the prisoner pen, Rattus said he had left a hundred thousand troops and fifty breeders back in Xinan." Baribusa said.

"Rattus?" Lupina lifted his eyebrows.

"Our leader."

"Alright. And the war?"

"That's a longer story." Baribusa sighed.

"We have time." Lupins said and pointed to the boxes they could use as seats.

Baribusa and Korgana sat down and began telling the tale of their race, how they used to live in peace with their neighbors and with their females walking among them until their ruling council, which he identified as the shadow council, decided that they wanted more territory. He told them how they had instructed their alchemists to create the concoction that had turned their females into the bloated monstrosities they are now, so they would birth more young to grow their army and replace their expected losses.

The tale continued with the great war they fought against the light-skinned giants, who wore thick armor and large weapons and who, after losing some towns due to the surprise attacks of the rats, had struck back hard, driving the rats back into and then out of their ancestral home, giving no quarter. He also told them how they ordered to attack the tigers they met instead of trying to parlay and maybe find a way to cohabit with them and to attack further once the tigers were gone.

"So, in a nutshell, you started a war, lost and because of that, you brought that misery to our land?" Lupina asked after Baribusa was finished.

"You can call it that." Baribusa nodded. "I knew it was wrong but when the great war started, I wasn't in any position to argue. And the one who was leader of our forces, who was against starting the war, he died suddenly."

"How?" Po asked, again seeing that movement in the corner of his eye and again seeing nothing.

"No idea." Baribusa shrugged. "But as they say, our shadow council seems to be everywhere and they are said to be powerful. I've never seen one of them though."

"Dragon Warrior, what's going on?" Lupina asked him. "You keep looking around."

"Something is going on." Po said, looking around, trying to find out what was bothering him so much. "As if someone is trying to get close or listen in."

"Don't you have some other way of looking?" Lupina suggested. "I overheard your father say something about a chi sight."

"Good idea." Po nodded and changed his sight to where his eyes glowed yello, the figures of the others turning from normal to glowing spots with outlines and when he turned to where he saw those movements, he did a double take. "What the hell?"

"What is it, Dragon Warrior?"

"Who the hell are these guys?" Po asked, pointing to a spot where he saw three rats standing, their glow not yellow but red. "Don't you see them?"

"I can't see anything." Lupina shook his head.

"I'll be right back." Po said and started running, startling the three rat figures and making them run until they disappeared into a barely visible red vortex.

Po jumped in right after and had to endure quite the disorientation when he ended up in a place that was somehow similar to the spirit realm he has been in a few times. Red lightning bolts crashed out of a similarly red but cloudless sky, with a black sun above the horizon. It felt like he was swimming through air, floating on currents that weren't there, the rats he was chasing floating in front of him but his larger mass moving faster than they did.

They reached what looked like a small floating island with five thrones, two more rats sitting on them, one throne larger than the others. The three rats that were in front of him shrieked and the other two shrieked in return, trying to get away. Po used his chi to speed himself up, catching up to the three and wrapping them into his bulk, all four of them crashing onto the island.

The shrieks of the three below him became louder and painful, Po realizing that their crash had broken some of their bones. He saw that all five rats looked rather emaciated, as if they hadn't eaten anything in years but their eyes glowed in a dark red and were full of contempt and rage. The lead rat, the one who had sat on the largest throne threw something at Po, which he caught in mid flight, his reflexes sharpened by his chi.

He threw the item back where it came from, hitting the rat squarely in the chest. The rat shrieked even louder, a soul-crushing keen telling him that whatever that was, it was causing pain to the rat like it had never felt before. The fifth rat tried to flee but Po caught it by the leg, pulling it back and slapping it across the face to stop it from squirming.

He must have either greatly misjudged his strength or the rats were more frail than he had thought because instead of the rat getting quiet, its head flew away completely, causing him to let it go in shock. The leading rat had stopped shrieking and Po noticed that its chest had been eaten through, and whatever it had thrown at him was still eating through the body, more and more of it dissolving in front of his eyes.

He moved back to the other three, lifting them up and carrying them back to where he entered this world. When he reached the vortex, he threw one after the other at it, the properties of this dimension letting them float as if in water until they disappeared from view. Po moved after them, exiting the vortex as well and falling to the ground as soon as he was back in the real world, a startled Lupina looking at him.

"That was fast." Lupina remarked, looking at the three rats lying on the ground.

"How long was I gone?" Po asked as Baribusa and Korgana came over, looking both fascinated and disgusted at the three rats.

"A few seconds." Lupina told him. "Who are they?"

"I don't know but they were in a kind of spirit realm, though unlike the one I was already in before, this one was dark and even smelled evil."

"Why did you bring corpses with you?"

"They were alive when I got them."

"Two of them are dead, only one lives." Lupina told him and turned to Baribusa. "General, what do you know?"

"These pathetic creatures are our shadow council?" Korgana asked Baribusa, his disbelief mirrored in his litter-mate.

"What are you?" Baribusa growled at the surviving shadow council member, the frail rat wheezing as if unused to breathing.

"I'm your god." the rat hissed. "Kill them all."

"You're no god!" Baribusa shouted and slammed his hand onto the rats throat before beginning to squeeze until the creature was dead. "Because gods can't die."

"That was interesting." Po said.

"General!" an aide came over to them.

"What is it?"

"A unit of tigers has come from the west." they were told. "They said they were coming from Xinan."

"Bring their leader here." Lupina ordered.

"General." the leader of the tigers saluted before Lupina after he was brought before the wolf. "General Tiggora, second-in-command of the forces of Tiger's Peak."

"Tiger's Peak?" Lupina asked, also saluting.

"It's a good sized city state high in the mountains. We've been defending against continued attacks by these rats until we finally eliminated their forces after they had thrown themselves at our lines." Tiggora explained.

"That would have been Snikkar'ts tactics." Baribusa sighed, causing the tiger to look at him, a look filled with such contempt and hatred that Po thought he would jump at the rat general.

"On our way, we've also cleared the city of Xinan of the remaining enemies." Tiggora continued. "There were only a few hundred left, along with about fifty of their fat ones, so we decided to continue on to see where the rest were."

"What?" Lupina was surprised and turned to Baribusa. "I thought there were a hundred thousand troops left there."

"That's what our leader had told me." Baribusa sat down on the ground, his hope of their race not dying out gone after hearing that their remaining breeders had been killed. "It's all moot now anyway, we're done."

"What do you mean?" Tiggora asked. "Do you think you can simply leave after everything you have done?"

"It doesn't matter." Baribusa sighed. "With the death of our last breeders, our race is finished."

"I need some help here." Tigara's voice interrupted them and everyone turned around to see her coming out from the underground part of the camp, another female hanging on her shoulders.

"Help her!" Lupina ordered two of the rhino soldiers who took over for Tigara and brought Lyanna to the medic of the unit who began to look her over.

"What happened to her?" the medic asked, seeing the disorientation in Lyanna.

"She said something about a gas before she collapsed." Tigara explained.

"According to Viper, she should soon recover from the gas effects, maybe suffer a sickness from it." Po told them. "The other tigers did."

"There were also some really big rats still alive down there, chained to some wooden carts without wheels." Tigara told the group.

"What?" Baribusa lifted his head, rising from his seated position. "Some females were still alive? How many?"

"Twenty or so. They were in some side room." Tigara pointed to the hole in the ground that lead down there.

"We need to kill them too." Tiggora said, moving towards the hole. "Can you show us?"

"No, please." Baribusa pleaded. "Please don't kill them."

"What, so you can birth another million of you?" Tiggora scoffed.

"No, you don't understand." Baribusa said. "That won't happen. Without that potion, our females will revert back to the way they were before. They will be able to walk, talk and birth only a few young a year."

"I'm hesitant to condemn an entire race to death." Lupina said quietly to Tiggora but Baribusa still heard him.

"Given what they did to my race, I don't have that many objections against it." Tiggora returned. "And again, if they get back to their strength, what do you think will happen?"

"With twenty females left, it would take hundreds of years for us to get back to our former strength." Baribusa said, his voice still pleading. "And that's presuming that our females birth enough daughters for us to stay viable as a race. And without the shadow council ruling us, we don't have to be at war all the time."

"Shadow council?" Tiggora asked.

"Them." Po pointed to the three emaciated corpses on the ground. "They were living in some form of dark spirit realm."

"I don't believe him." Tiggora said.

"I do." a female voice surprised them, making them turn around to see Lyanna standing behind them, holding herself up with a makeshift crutch.

"You were his prisoner for who knows how long, how can you say that?" Lupina asked, genuinely curious, even though his wording was condescending.

"Because of all the rats, he was the most honorable." she told them and turned around.

"Alright, lets assume we let you live, where would you go?" Tiggora asked.

"The emperor gave me authority to decide that." Lupina asked.

"General! General!" a voice from above got their attention, the source the guard of the communications crystal who was being brought down by Crane. "The emperor asks to speak with you on an urgent matter."

"Couldn't it wait until I was back in the base?" Lupina asked.

"No, I am to tell you that there's a situation in the north of China."

* * *

 **And, done here ^^**

 **Review please :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry this takes so long. They upped my hours at work, which means I barely get any time to write. Usually, when I get home, all I want is to shower, put my feet up, have a beer and watch TV to relax.**

 **Still, enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: not mine**

* * *

"Dragon Warrior, will you join me again?" Lupina asked, eyeing the communication crystal the soldier was carrying.

"Sure." Po nodded and followed the guard and the general to get a bit more away from the captured rats until they stood apart from everyone with Lupina's personal guard surrounding them.

Po and Lupina touched the crystal at the same time and, in their minds, were transported to the place they were most comfortable in. Po opened his eyes and saw the emperor sitting at one of the tables of his foster father's restaurant, playing with mahjongg tiles that Po recognized as those belonging to his foster father.

"Never ceases to amaze me." Po commented on the setting and bowed to the emperor.

"Dragon Warrior." the emperor nodded. "Didn't expect to see you here again."

"I brought him here to corroborate what I'm going to tell you." Lupina said, also bowing to his liege.

"The report will have to wait." the emperor interrupted. "Yesterday, I received news that refugees were streaming into and past Zhongxin-Bei."

"Never heard of it." Po remarked.

"Zhongxin-Bei is the hub of the northern regions. It's the biggest city there, well defended and supplied." Lupina explained.

"Anyway." the emperor spoke up, conveying his irritation at being interrupted with that word. "I sent eagles of the scout corps to get more information and they have sent back troubling information with their scrying crystals."

"And?" Lupina asked apprehensively.

"They report a massive army of rats, pillaging everything in their path." the emperor revealed.

"Do they have numbers?" Lupina wanted to know, his mind already working on strategies.

"They counted almost two million."

"Dear lord." Lupina gasped.

"What?" Po groaned.

"Their current route has them bypassing Zhongxin-Bei by a lot but it would lead them straight to the capital." the emperor finished.

"I... I don't..." Lupina stammered, trying to think of something. "I have no idea how we are to defend against a force like that."

"We managed it here." Po argued.

"Dragon Warrior, the only way we did it was by holding narrow passes that allowed a smaller force to defend against a much larger one. The lands north of the capital are mostly flat plains. There are no choke points to hold." Lupina explained. "The only thing I can think of is evacuating everyone to the capital and pull every available soldier there to hold the walls."

"We already gave the order." the emperor said. "How many soldiers can you spare from the southern front?"

"Well... almost all of them." Lupina told him. "The war here is over."

"Wait, what?" the emperor sat up sharply. "When did that happen and why wasn't I informed?"

"It happened this morning and we were talking to the former military leader of the rats when the soldier with the communications crystal came to us." Po explained.

"General, report." the emperor ordered to bring order to the meeting.

"Yes, my lord." Lupina nodded. "This morning, the rats began an attack using a new kind of enemy, one larger than even their storm troopers. They also deployed gas, to which the new soldiers were immune to. That gas, however, was deadly to their regular forces and when it had filled the pass, it affected our forces differently."

"Did they break through?" the emperor interrupted.

"No, my lord. While our reinforcements hurried into the pass, the Dragon Warrior single-handedly defended the pass, since he wasn't as affected by the gas as were our other forces."

"To give credit where it is due, the main reason we held was Master Crane." Po interjected. "He used his wind technique to blow the gas back through the pass, relieving the pressure on our forces and essentially killing every rat caught in it, except the immune ones. The gas cloud even went down into the rat camp and did a number on them. Barely ten thousand survived, most of them slaves who can't fight and twenty females."

"You said that the military leader survived?" the emperor asked.

"Yes, my lord." Lupina nodded. "He had been incarcerated by his lord and we were interrogating him when you called."

"I want to speak to him as well. Get him into the communion." the emperor ordered.

"Yes, my lord." Lupina repeated and promptly disappeared.

"You look distressed, Dragon Warrior." the emperor remarked after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.

"It's Master Tigress, she's... well, of all the species on our side, the tigers were affected the worst by the gas." Po explained.

"I'm sure it will be okay."

"Yeah, she's also... well, Tigress is with child. My child."

"Congratulations." the emperor smiled. "I'm sure you're going to be a great father."

"Only if Master Shifu doesn't kill me before." Po groaned, dreading the conversation.

"If you need my help, I will personally order him to stand down." the emperor smiled as Lupina reappeared with a large rat behind him.

"What sorcery is this?" Baribusa asked, looking around. "How did we get to my former home?"

"We're not." Lupina said as they walked towards Po and the emperor. "The communion puts you into a place where you are most comfortable."

"This is really disconcerting." Baribusa shuddered.

"My lord emperor, this is General Baribusa, former military leader of the rats." Lupina introduced the rat to the red crane.

"Um... emperor." Baribusa knelt awkwardly, his leg injury making the movement hard, even though his body was in the real world.

"Rise." the emperor said, inwardly impressed with the deference. "I asked you here to explain."

"Explain what?" Baribusa asked.

"We received reports of a massive force of rats pouring down from the north. Larger than yours ever was." Lupina told him.

"They survived." Baribusa gasped.

"Who are they?" Lupina prompted him.

"When we were driven from our home, we were chased by our enemy and so we decided to split into several parts. Some went towards the north, which we knew to be only ice and snow so their survival chances were thought to be low. Apparently, several of those groups coalesced again and they managed to survive whatever they encountered."

"You're not making a great argument against me not ordering the immediate execution of every surviving member of your force to free up my forces." the emperor said. "The last thing we need is you building up your forces again to attack us."

"That won't happen." Baribusa shook his head. "I'm done with this stupid war."

"What prevents another officer to be put in charge?" the emperor asked.

"The fact that our leadership appears to be dead. He saw to that." Baribusa pointed to Po.

"How?"

"When we were talking to him, I saw movement out of the corner of my eyes. When I used my chi sight, I saw rats standing there and I chased them into a weird version of the spirit realm. There, I found a few more rats and even though I wanted to take them prisoner, I accidentally killed them all." Po explained. "They were very frail."

"When I saw them, I knew they were the shadow council." Baribusa continued. "They were ruling our race, calling themselves gods. They were the ones who had ordered the war."

"That still leaves the fact that unchecked, your numbers will swell again in a short amount of time." the emperor argued.

"No, they won't." Baribusa shook his head. "Our alchemists used a potion to turn our females into the breeders that were able to produce these numbers. Without it, the females will revert into what they used to be, normal members of our race who can't even come close to birthing the numbers we had before."

"And we should believe that?" the emperor was doubtful.

"Emperor, I ask for your mercy." Baribusa said, dropping to his knees again and wincing in pain when his wound flared up. "All I want is for my people to survive as a race. We have barely a thousand soldiers left, the remainder of the force is our slave cast, rats too small for fighting. Even with the twenty females left, we can't be sure of survival. I will even give you all the information you want to fight the other force in the north because I know that if they win, we will at some point be back at the point where we have to fight more wars simply to accommodate our numbers."

"If I were to let you live, how will your people act towards others?" the emperor wanted to know. "We have a lot of displaced people you have driven from their homes."

"Personally, I don't have anything against living with other species, though I know that none of them will want to live with us after what we did to them." Baribusa recognized. "Especially the felines."

"Don't underestimate the will of people to live in their homeland." Po smiled.

"Leave the communion." the emperor ordered Baribusa.

"Yes, emperor." Baribusa stood up. "Uh... how?"

"Imagine letting go of the crystal in your mind." Lupina told him and Baribusa promptly disappeared.

"Opinions?" the emperor turned to Po and Lupina. "Can we trust him?"

"I do." Po nodded.

"Based on?"

"Lyanna."

"Who?"

"A tiger who had been prisoner of the rats from the day they attacked the tigers." Lupina explained. "She vouched for the honor of this Baribusa, even after her prolonged incarceration."

"So, Dragon Warrior, how would you decide?"

"I say, let them make a home in the southern regions. If they break the word, we let the tigers loose. They want to kill them all anyway." Po said.

"General?"

"I would also advocate to let them try to rebuild their civilization." Lupina agreed. "But I also already gave the order to construct a fortress in each of the passes that can be easily defended by a hundred soldiers."

"A wise precaution." the emperor nodded.

"I will order the majority of the army to pack up and march north to the capital." Lupina said. "Hopefully, we will be fast enough."

"How many troops are left in the capital?" Po asked.

"We have ten thousand regulars left in the city and the surrounding lands and can raise twice that number in emergency troops from the population, though their military worth will be questionable." Lupina told him, knowing the numbers.

"Will that be enough?"

"If they press the attack and keep it going, no." Lupina sighed. "As hard as the garrison troops can fight, they are simply too few to do it over a long period of time."

"Okay, I will return to the Jade Palace using the spirit realm and go through the Kung Fu scrolls." Po announced.

"What good does that do?" Lupina asked.

"The scrolls have recipes in them that can return the energy to a certain species." Po explained. "If I can find recipes for every species in the army, we can march all day without getting tired and make due with only a few hours of sleep."

"That's a great idea, Dragon Warrior." the emperor nodded.

"Dragon Warrior, you can take people with you into the spirit realm, can you not?" Lupina asked.

"Yes but I already know what you want to ask." Po stopped the wolf. "I can only take one, maybe two people with me and even if I could take an entire army, I have to have been at the point where I want to come out again. And since I have never stepped foot even remotely close to the capital, I couldn't bring the army there."

"Too bad." Lupina sighed. "Then we'll have to do it the regular way."

"See to it." the emperor ordered. "The fate of China rests in your hands."

With the unspoken command that the audience was over, Po and Lupina imagined letting go of the crystal and found themselves surrounded by the guards. The one who was responsible for the crystal returned to glass cover to the holder and tucked it under his arms, saluting the general before leaving them alone.

Lupina went over to Baribusa and told him about the emperor's decision, the large rat visibly relieved. Soon after, the one-eyed wolf was shouting orders, the soldiers running back to the pass and through it. Lupina left three battalions to guard the pass against more aggression while the rest began packing up their gear, the transport convoy carrying the heavy armor leaving before the soldiers.

He even used the condor transports, having them carry loads of arrows and food back to the capital. As all this was happening, Po visited Tigress in the infirmary, where Viper was already packing up as much as she could, the walking wounded also preparing to leave with the army while the more severely wounded would stay in the camp.

"How is she?" Po asked Viper, referring to the woman he loved.

"Still unconscious. Her breathing is normal and all signs point to her simply being in a deep sleep. A sleep we can't wake her up from, though." Viper sighed as she packed up her stuff. "What's going on anyway? I was told to pack up and get ready to move but no one would tell me why."

"There are roughly two million rats marching on the capital from the north." Po sighed.

"What?" Viper gasped. "That's..."

"Can we move her?" Po interrupted, pointing to Tigress.

"If you think we leave her here, think again." Viper chuckled. "If she wakes up here and we all are fighting at the capital, she will run all the way to the capital and then she will kill us all."

"I have to get back to the Jade Palace to go through the Kung Fu scrolls." Po said as he picked Tigress up.

"What for?"

"To find recipes for rhinos and boars and wolves that returns their energy to them, so we all can make the long marches."

"Po, I'm afraid that this will be a fight we can't win." Viper said worried.

"And yet, we have to fight them all the same." Po returned morosely and carried Tigress to a waiting transport cart.

"Po, when you look for those recipes, try to find one that will re-energize the pack animals as well." Viper called after him.

"Will do." Po nodded and lifted his pinkie finger before grabbing his other hand and lowering it, disappearing into a cloud of lotus blossoms.

He appeared inside the spirit realm, the warm, golden glow infusing him with a feeling of content and peace, very much the perverse version of what that rat shadow council had resided in. He would have loved to visit Master Oogway but since he was pressed for time, he dipped his foot into the chi ocean below him and drew the yin yang symbol, creating a vortex that sucked him under. He concentrated hard on the Jade Palace, hoping that he wouldn't appear in the air above a cliff.

"Dragon Warrior!" a surprised shout snapped him out of his stupor.

"Master Shifu." Po greeted the red panda, who strangely was upside down.

"Care to tell me why you are hanging in the sacred peach tree of heavenly wisdom?" Shifu asked.

"I guess I have to work on my aim when I'm in a hurry." Po chuckled and extricated himself from the branch, landing on his back. "Ouch."

"What are you doing back? Is the war over? Where are the others?" Shifu fired off more questions.

"Well, the war in the south is essentially over, what's left of the rats have surrendered." Po told his master. "But the emperor has told us that an even greater force of rats have invaded from the north."

"Then what are you doing here?" Shifu asked. "And what about the others?"

"I need to read the Kung Fu scrolls to find those secret recipes for every race we have in the army. The soldiers need to force-march to the capital and we have very little time." Po explained. "The others are fine, except for... Master Tigress."

"WHAT?" Shifu growled and jumped onto Po's stomach. "What happened to my daughter?"

"The rats used gas in their last attack. It affected the various species differently. Tigers got sick and fell unconscious. Tigress is currently in the back of a transport cart, being tended to by Viper." Po said as he got up and walked to the Jade Palace and into the dungeon, where the scrolls were located.

"Did many of our warriors die?" Shifu asked concerned.

"Yes." Po nodded sadly. "About twenty percent of our force was killed. Though the death toll among the rats is staggeringly high, making our losses minuscule in comparison."

"Po, the north is flat land, how can it be defended against such numbers?" Shifu asked.

"We don't know." Po shrugged and lifted a set of scrolls. "Ah, found them, even for the pack animals. Alright, gotta go again."

"Is here anything else I should know?" Shifu wanted to know, eyeing Po suspiciously when the panda became nervous while preparing himself to shift back into the spirit realm.

"Nothing much." Po said and lifted his pinkie finger before grabbing his other hand. "Oh, just one more thing, Tigress is pregnant."

"WHAT?" Shifu shouted.

"Gotta go! Skadoosh!" Po quickly said and dropped his pinkie, going back to the spirit realm and out of Shifu's reach, at least for now, breathing a sigh of relief when his feet touched down on solid ground inside the spirit realm. "Whew, that was close."

"DRAGON WARRIOR!" an angry shout sounded from above him before a small body slammed him off his feet.

"Master Shifu, how did you get here?" Po asked panicked and tried to scramble away.

"I'm a Kung Fu master, do you think I wouldn't be able to learn how to get into the spirit realm by myself?" Shifu growled. "I'm going to kill you!"

"Please master, think of my unborn child." Po begged.

"That's the reason I'm killing you for!" Shifu yelled and jumped at Po.

"Be at peace, Shifu." a calm voice stopped the red panda in his tracks.

"Oh... Master Oogway." Shifu greeted his old friend, embarrassed. "I didn't think you would be here."

"Where else would I be?" Oogway smiled knowingly. "I live here."

"Master Oogway." Po bowed to the old turtle.

"Dragon Warrior." Oogway smiled at Po. "Always a pleasure to see you. And you and Master Tigress are expecting. How exciting."

"Exciting?" Shifu growled. "Exciting? She's my daughter and..."

"She's a grown woman, capable to make her own decision." Oogway calmed him.

"But he's..."

"Don't you think Po will be a good father?"

"I do, but..."

"And will Tigress not be a great and fierce mother?"

"She will, but..."

"Then why the anger?" Oogway asked.

"Because she will always be his little girl." a new voice chimed in, one filled with equal parts arrogance and humor.

"Tai Lung!" Shifu and Po said surprised, at the same time.

"What is he doing here?" Shifu asked.

"I'm training." Tai Lung shrugged.

"I don't understand." Po said.

"I accepted that I will never be the Dragon Warrior." Tai Lung said. "So I won't even try. Master Oogway has explained the meaning of the dragon scroll to me, and I realized what I did wrong. Now I'm training with him, just to relieve some of the boredom that this existence brings."

"Want to redeem yourself and return to the real life?" Po asked.

"What?" Tai Lung shot back, clearly interested.

"China is in mortal danger and we need everyone who can fight to save it." Po told him.

"Another crazy peacock?"

"No, two million rats."

"What?" Tai Lung gasped. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am." Po nodded.

"That will be a true fight." Tai Lung grinned with glee. "I would love to come back, but is that even possible?"

"Why not?" Po shrugged. "I sent you here, I can take you back. Though you might face some hostility from the people."

"You know what, I don't care." Tai Lung waved him off. "Just let me loose against that enemy."

"Then come here." Po waved and stepped behind Tai Lung when the leopard was close.

"What are you doing?" Tai Lung asked when Po hugged him from behind. "Stop hugging me."

"How else do you think I can get you back?" Po asked and grabbed harder before floating over the chi ocean where he then created another vortex. "Goodbye Master Oogway."

"We're not done talking, Dragon Warrior." Shifu waved his staff at Po. "We'll continue when you're back."

Po groaned inwardly as he and Tai Lung moved through the space between worlds. He hoped that Tigress would give birth to their child before they were back at the Jade Palace because Tigress would defend him from her father with as much ferocity that she would defend her child with.

And now he just had to convince the others that Tai Lung wanted to help them. At least he hoped so. For all he knew, the leopard could have ulterior motives.

* * *

 **Done here. Had my one Saturday in November off and was finally able to finish this.**

 **Review please :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Guest: while I appreciate your eagerness for a new chapter (and driving up my review count ^^), I do have a job and a life that keep me from writing, and I also write two other stories. And while updates may take a while, I won't abandon this story without telling you guys that I do. And if I abandoned it, I would still write an epilogue chapter. There is only one thing that would cause this story, and all my others, to get abandoned without notice and that would be my untimely death.**

 **Still, enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: not mine**

* * *

"Are you sure about this, Dragon Warrior?" Lupina asked Po, for the tenth time at least, while he was slurping the soup that gave wolves their energy back.

"We need every fighter we can get." Po shrugged. "And for all his faults, for all the evil he has brought before, Tai Lung is a fierce fighter. And he does seem to be willing to make amends."

"I guess an Imperial pardon depends on how he fights." Lupina nodded and moved his neck to shake out his muscles. "I must say, this stuff you make is amazing."

"I'm just glad there were recipes to make these for all the races we have in our army." Po said and looked around the makeshift camp where soldiers were either eating or catching some much needed sleep.

"Still, I could have never imagined having any of our troops do forced marches for twenty hours straight, several days in a row." Lupina chuckled. "Without this, we would have broken down after the first day."

"How long until we reach the capital?" Po asked.

"At this speed, another three days." Lupina replied.

"What if a wagon breaks down?"

"Then we'll leave it here. The army can't afford to wait for one wagon to be fixed." Lupina told him.

"Will we arrive before the enemy?"

"We should." Lupina nodded. "The last reports tell us that the enemy is busying themselves with destroying the land they roll over."

"Isn't that counterproductive?" Po wondered. "Baribusa told us that the rats are coming here to conquer this land."

"Depends on what they endured during their trek." Lupina shrugged his shoulders. "If they really traveled through the northern lands."

"Is it really that cold up there?"

"Every tale told by people who have been up there says that the temperatures get so cold that ice is freezing on your fur. It's a blanket of snow everywhere and the forests are thick and wild." Lupina recounted. "So, the rats' behavior might be some form of blowing off steam."

"Still, if you conquer lands, you should use it to make food."

"Well, the emperor's edict was to harvest anything that could be harvested already and then destroy the rest. Crops can be replanted." Lupina said. "Not that there was much food to be harvested in the first place, given that it was planted only a few weeks before."

"Are we looking at a possible famine?" Po asked concerned.

"If we can't defeat the enemy, the lack of food will be the least of our problems." Lupina sighed. "Remember, they most likely want to kill us all to feed to their females to breed more of them."

"Has this country been in as great a danger or even greater danger before?" Po asked.

"Not to my knowledge." Lupina shook his head. "Not even in the times of strife, when China was beset by civil war between the provinces before our country became unified under one ruler. Never before have we faced an enemy that seems hell-bent on our complete destruction."

"Po, great food as ever." Viper said as she slid by.

"Viper, how's Tigress?" Po asked, as Lupina removed himself from the conversation.

"It's very strange." Viper admitted. "It seems that Tigress doesn't want to wake up, as if she's actually fighting to stay in that deep sleep."

"Why would she do that?" Po wondered.

"I can only guess."

"Well, do it." Po prodded her.

"Okay, I think that she's maybe trying to protect her unborn child."

"How so?"

"You know that disease, that the gas caused in tigers?" Viper asked and Po nodded. "It could be that it also works on the unborn and Tigress is trying to protect it."

"But why wouldn't she wake up?"

"Because her body needs the least amount of energy for itself when she's in such a deep sleep. She can use everything she can spare to fight for her own child."

"So other than keeping her fed, we can't do anything?" Po sighed.

"The only other thing we can do is keep her comfortable." Viper nodded. "Po, get some sleep, you need it."

Po nodded to Viper and walked off, munching on the root that was part of the broth that gave his own race its energy back. He walked by the carts that had tents over them where the wounded where situated who couldn't walk the long distances. The third cart was reserved for his mate and Po slowly ran his paw over Tigress' head, feeling no temperature but also no reaction. Her breathing was deep and even and when he moved his paw down to her stomach, he could feel the hardened bump that indicated the area where his child was growing.

"Come back to me, my love." Po whispered, seeing no reaction in her face.

With another sigh, Po left the cart and laid down on his bamboo roll to catch a few hours sleep before the army had to run for another day.

* * *

"My lord emperor, the enemy has now fully encircled us." the pangolin told the red crane that was sitting on his throne.

"How far away is General Lupina and the army?" the empress asked, sitting beside her husband.

"Last communication had them five days away." their chancellor told them. "It seems the Dragon Warrior has some special food recipes that allows the army to march longer."

"I want to see them." the emperor said and stood up, his wife following suit.

With the dignity born out of their status, both red cranes walked slowly up the spiral staircase to get to the top of the imperial tower. Once they were on the top most platform, they looked around, seeing the city and the surrounding lands in the clear afternoon day. Where once lay lush green or yellow fields, the areas were now seething with gray and brown animals running around, erecting dirty-looking barracks and everywhere, dark smoke was rising from what seemed to be bonfires and cooking stations.

"My lord emperor." the general, a scarred boar in charge of the city defense force greeted his liege.

"Report, General Pariglus." the emperor ordered.

"Encirclement has been completed." the boar replied. "Scouts report enemy numbers at just under two million."

"What about the northern regions?" the empress asked.

"The rats bypassed Zhongxin-Bei and the eastern part of the northern regions but completely destroyed everything in their path." Pariglus explained, showing the route the rats took on the map on the table in the middle of the area. "Which raises some questions."

"What does that mean?" the emperor wanted to know.

"It seems that the enemy knows which city was our capital. Why else would they bypass other large cities and head straight for the seat of government." the boar mused. "If this city falls, or more importantly, if you, my lord, fall, the regions will start to fend for themselves and every single one of them will fall to the enemy."

As they surveyed the scene, they heard a loud yell from the enemy camps. To the north, a large force of rats was assembling, most of them the standard rat soldiers, without the larger storm troopers to support them.

"My lord, you should head inside." the board advised. "It seems, the enemy is beginning its attack."

"My the gods have mercy on us all." the empress whispered and followed her husband back to the throne room.

* * *

"Look at that." Po groaned, seeing the smoke rising in the near distance.

"But the city is still holding." Lupina nodded, inwardly very relieved. "Most of the smoke is coming from the rat camps."

"Luckily the rats don't really use catapults." Monkey said from his perch on the tree branch.

"I think we may have a way to get into the city." an approaching Crane called out as he landed.

"Can you draw it?" Lupina asked, holding a hastily drawn map of the city and the rat camps.

"Sure." Crane nodded and took a piece of coal. "The rat lines are thinnest here." he underlined a spot in the encirclement roughly two miles east of their current position.

"Where are they strongest?" Po asked.

"Up here in the northern and northwestern part." Crane replied, showing two other spots on the map.

"General, you don't think about attacking them there, are you?" Monkey asked, landing next to the tree stump acting as a map table.

"No, but it gives me an idea how long it might take for reinforcements to arrive if we attack the weak point." Lupina told him.

"Wouldn't any attack overwhelm us at some point?" Po asked.

"Of course, but we're not attacking to fight them."

"Uh... why else?" Crane wondered.

"We have to get into the city." Lupina explained. "That means breaking through their lines and keep running until we're inside the walls. Then we can reinforce the defenders."

"And how will that work?" Po wondered.

"By running as fast as we can." Lupina sighed. "We will use some forces but most should make it through."

"And what about the pack animals and the wagons?"

"They can run pretty fast for short distances." Lupina chuckled. "I already ordered that everyone should eat some of that energy food you prepared and feed it to the pack animals as well."

Po turned around to look at the assembled army. Twenty-eight thousand soldiers of various races, boars, wolves, bulls and rhinos mostly with a few tigers mixed in and some other races who were more the supporting staff and not the fighting force. On the long marches north, they had picked up a few garrison forces from larger cities as well as conscripted several criminal gangs who were lured with and imperial pardon if they fought and survived.

The forces remaining at the southern passes had been left smaller than Lupina had wanted but the building of the pass fortress had already started when the army left. The builders were under orders to continue building as long as there was daylight and the workers had sworn to do exactly that. With the rats in the south pacified, Lupina didn't fear an attack that much but he wasn't taking any chances.

For Po, the most astonishing thing coming from the army was the silence. Lupina had ordered them to be quiet to not tell the rats that they were coming but usually, almost thirty thousand individuals made a lot of noise even without talking. But this army, veterans hardened by weeks of battles and knowing the enemy, and criminal convicts witnessing those hardened veterans not underestimating their enemy, stayed completely quiet, no armor or weapons dropped to the ground or too much movement done.

"Can we get on with this?" a bored voice interrupted the planning session.

"Eager to get killed, Tai Lung?" Po asked.

"Standing around won't do it." Tai Lung shrugged. "I wanna kill some rats."

"How will we do this?" Po asked, ignoring the snow leopard for the moment.

"Hey convict." Lupina called. "You really want to kill some rats?"

"Yeah." Tai Lung nodded.

"Then you can protect the right flank of our force." Lupina told him. "As for the left, I would like your people to hold that, Dragon Warrior."

"Why the pandas?" Monkey asked.

"Because they have shown that they can hold the tower shields and still run fast." Lupina explained. "We have also brought in some of the rhinos with the most endurance, they will carry shields as well. The transports will be in the middle and the front will be another rhino force to push away any enemy we encounter."

Lupina ordered his officers to get the army moving and with the same silence they already showed, the entire force moved two miles to the east to have a straight line to the weak spot in the rat line. To their luck, the south-eastern gate of the city was straight before them so with the correct timing, the defenders could open the gates, let the army in and close them again before the enemy could organize a counterattack.

It took an hour of silent walking around until the army was in position. Po nodded to his kin, holding a shield and large sword as did every other panda with him. The rhinos that would clear the way were swinging their swords to loosen up their shoulders, the shields they would carry standing on the ground in front of them.

On the right of the force, Tai Lung was pacing back and forth, eager to get going while the rhinos in the behind him waited patiently for the army to move. The pack animals, overfed with energy food were stomping their feet impatiently, snorting their eagerness to get going as well. Lupina took one last look and lifted his arm, causing the army to ready itself.

Every soldier who was part of the screening force took up his shield and readied his weapon. Lupina lowered his arm and the army began moving, picking up speed steadily as it went. The first wagon rumbled forward, its two pack animals finally able to shed that excess energy that they got and the driver had troubles slowing them down enough so they wouldn't run over the rhinos before them.

Even without the army yelling a battle cry and their own noise covering the approach of the army, the rats noticed the trembling of the ground, yet it was way too late. Panicked shrieks echoed from the rat camp as the army smashed into them like a battering ram, rats slaves and resting soldiers thrown around or stomped to death by thousands of heavy feet. On the left, the pandas with the shields kept any organized attack at bay while on the right, Tai Lunp reaped a terrible toll among the rats who tried to organize, his body seemingly everywhere at once.

"We're through!" Lupina shouted from the top of the second cart, announcing the breakthrough of the vanguard of the army.

The rats became more organized, more rat forces closing in on the rear of the army but both Tai Lung and Po, in a weird form of shared thought, slowed down and held back after breaking through. Tai Lung kept up his rabid fighting, preventing any rat force on the right of the army from coalescing enough to pose a threat while the pandas on the left, in a complete opposite of their usual pacifist manner, were hacking the enemy apart to allow their comrades in arms to get through.

When the last cart had gone through, Po ordered his kin to disengage and the pandas turned and ran. Tai Lung, while still wanting to fight on, was pragmatic enough to know that he wouldn't stand a chance against the rat forces and the city defenders wouldn't hold the gates open just for him. So, with some reluctance, he killed one last rat and ran off, catching up to the army just as they passed through the thick gates, which snapped shut twenty seconds after the last soldier had been through.

"We made it!" Po panted and ran towards the cart where Tigress was on to check on her, finding Viper unraveling the straps with which she had secured her feline friend. "How is she?"

"Nothing changed, she's still in a coma." Viper told him. "How did the army fare?"

"No panda fell during the breakthrough." Po replied. "I don't know about the other sides, though I overheard some rhinos talking how Tai Lung has almost single-handedly kept the enemy at bay there."

"It seems your decision of bringing him back with you wasn't so bad after all." Viper smiled at him.

"Alright, I have to talk to General Lupina and then my guess is we'll go to the emperor to get a report on the situation." Po said and turned to leave.

"Po, give me your honest opinion." Viper stopped him. "Will we be able to win this?"

"Not in a straight-up fight." Po shook his head. "All we can hope for is to break them at our walls before the food stores run out."

"Will we?"

Po could only give her a poignant look as he left to find the general who was already busy directing his comparatively fresh forces to the walls to reinforce the hard-pressed and tired defenders.

* * *

 **Shorter chapter but all I have time for. No vacation for me between holidays.**

 **Review please :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**I know these chapters take long to come out but I really am busy in life with work and the two other stories I write. And now I have to pile on the bad news (at least for some). This story will end soon. Maybe a handful more chapters, then it will be over.**

 **If I write a follow-up story, I don't know yet. Given my time constraints, I'll probably not :(**

 **Still, enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: not mine**

* * *

Three months.

Three months of fighting, of dying, and of killing.

Winter had turned to Spring and Spring was turning into Summer and the rats were still attacking ceaselessly. Against all expectations, and to the bafflement of everyone, even more rats had poured in from the north in the first weeks of the siege. Now, still more rats were coming, the flow down to a trickle but a few hundred here and another thousand there quickly added up.

The area around the city was a charnel pit. The area close around the walls were one large crematorium. Having learned from the southern forces what the rats did with their dead, the emperor had issued a standing order that after every fight, large pots of oil would be thrown or poured onto the fields around the wall and then lit on fire to turn the bodies of the slain rats to ash, both to avoid disease outbreaks and to deny the rats the meat they would use to feed their breeders.

In the beginning, attacks came several times a day, straining the defenders to the limits. After the first week, it came down to one large attack a day before the rats went back into their camps to lick their wounds. For the last four weeks, the rats have attacked twenty times, going some days without an attack. The defenders were hoping that it was a sign that the enemy was tired but the still incoming reinforcements, while slow, meant that they could just be massing their strength for an all-out attack.

But the city still stood.

There were four major elements that allowed the city to endure.

The first was the imperial couple. Both the Emperor and the Empress constantly toured the parapets around the city when they were not under attack, talking to the soldiers and spurring them on to keep fighting. It did wonders for the morale of the common soldier that their leaders weren't just sitting in their gilded throne room but were also feeling the pressure.

Both emperor and empress were also paragons of modesty. Neither wanted special treatments and they ate what everyone else had to eat, sharing their private food stores with the soldiers until their specialties had run out. But while they felt that the fight might be lost anyway, both red cranes steadfastly projected a calm aura of assurance that the city's defenses would carry the day.

The second element was logistics. The rats didn't have siege catapults at all and the catapults they had, the same ones the southern attack force had used to gas the defenders there, were too small to be useful. When they had pushed them close enough so they could reach the walls, the defenders could easily destroy them with their own catapults, the ranges having been measured a long time ago. And those few times the rats were able to get off a shot, the stone was too small to do any significant damage to the thick walls.

Another logistical advantage was the air force. The defenders had hawks and eagles to scout anything the rats could do above ground and the large condors were used to their limits, ferrying wounded to the southern regions and bringing back food. The people in the southern regions were working furiously to get food for the capital, planting and harvesting as fast as nature allowed. The aerial troops also allowed for communication without the use of crystals or runners.

Several Kung Fu masters, Shifu included, had created fighting groups, training people in their lands in the use of weapons and martial arts and had petitioned the emperor to allow them to attack the rats to break through them in order to reinforce the defenders in the city. After short consultation with General Lupina, the emperor had denied them their request, instead ordering them to defend the south.

While most rats stayed around the city, several thousand were ranging south to hunt for resources or simply to pillage. The Kung Fu masters used their knowledge of the lands to counter these forays, hunting down the rats and killing them, burning their bodies afterwards as per the emperor's orders. Shifu had lamented that this war was brutalizing a lot of people, the necessity of killing their enemy detrimental to the mental health of the people fighting them.

The emperor also ingeniously employed the bandits around the areas in the war. Those that hadn't been drafted into the armies yet were offered one piece of silver for each rat slain, proving it by handing a pair of rat ears to their local magistrate to get the reward. That, combined with another standing order that bandits who were caught stealing were to be executed on the spot for hindering the war effort, caused multiple criminal groups to go actively rat hunting, killing thousands of them to get the gold for their reward.

It also had the somewhat dark bonus that it thinned out the bandits. Sometimes a bandit gang ran into more rats than they could defeat and were wiped out, not without causing a lot of damage, and the surviving rats then brought the slain back to their lines to use it for their breeders but the emperor had reasoned that the risk were way outweighed by the benefits, even if the bandits were rewarded for killing.

As a side note, Temutai's group, the bull who had a great dislike of the Dragon Warrior, fared the best, making off with dozens of gold pieces for the amount of rat ears they brought to the local magistrates of the regions they were in.

The third element for the capital's survival was, of course, the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five, minus Tigress, who was still in her coma. They were there for every attack, always in the thickest of the fighting, using the strength and their powers of Chi to sweep the walls and strengthen the resolve of the defending forces.

The fourth element in the defense was, oddly enough, Tai Lung. When the snow leopard had arrived on the walls, most soldiers had stayed away from him and Tai Lung hadn't minded at all. During attacks, he kept his part of the wall clear of enemies single-handedly, allowing not a single enemy to go over the parapets. Every day, Tai Lung arrived at the bath houses, his fur covered in blood and gore and silently washed himself before eating a large amount of food and returning to the wall to catch a nap.

All these things combined allowed the city to endure. The citizens, on thin rations to keep the soldiers fed well, did their part, repairing defenses and producing replacement weapons for the soldiers. Of all the workers, the fletchers were the most busy, making the ammo that the defenders needed most to soften up every attack.

* * *

Po looked over the parapets, weary beyond what sleep could cure. He had been on the wall every day for the entirety of the siege, fighting alongside the brave soldiers that looked the way he felt. They didn't have the powers of Chi to refresh themselves like he did from time to time, so they were even more tired.

He hoped that another attack would take a while. The soldiers currently on the wall were almost too tired to lift their spears and the archers were slowly but surely running out of ammunition. Sometimes, when the rats were clearly not in range, Lupina issued orders for some scavenger units to go outside and collect arrows that had landed on the ground and weren't burned but due to the fact that the rats usually attacked in such large numbers that missing them was impossible, most arrows were burned with the corpses after the battles.

Po had even given the secret recipes for the strengthening food to the kitchens, so they could keep the soldiers fed and strong. Unfortunately, their weariness didn't come from lack of food. It was the fighting that tore at them, the need to kill on a scale like China had never known in its history, not even during the times of woe before the first emperor united the provinces into the large nation it was today.

He looked back to the city, to the bustling streets filled with people who were doing their best to aid the war effort. The wall he stood on was the outermost, two more walls, both higher than the first, dissecting the city into three sectors, the innermost wall protecting the palace grounds, which were almost the size of a city themselves.

"Dragon Warrior." a voice he still wasn't familiar to hear so close interrupted his reverie.

"My lord emperor." Po bowed his head. "Isn't it dangerous for you to be here?"

"The enemy is pretty quiet today." the emperor pointed a wing at the northern lines. "And I'm well protected."

"That's true." Po nodded, looking at the dozen huge rhinos that made up part of the personal guard of the Imperial couple.

"Walk with me, Dragon Warrior." the emperor commanded, moving slowly along the parapet. "What to you think?"

"About what?" Po asked.

"The war. And how we are doing." the emperor clarified.

"We're doing as fine as can be expected." Po shrugged. "As long as the rats don't invent stronger catapults, they can't break down the walls. Or come over them, as long as they don't suddenly invent a new form of soldier who's more resilient to weapons."

"You mean like those gas immune ones you fought in the south?"

"Exactly." Po nodded. "But I was wondering why they haven't tried tunneling under the walls, they seem to be pretty adept at digging underground caves."

"Because this city is built on granite." an appearing General Lupina told him. "Haven't you noticed that no building has a cellar?"

"Huh, that never occurred to me." Po chuckled. "Really, a block of granite?"

"Except for the natural fissures that were carved by the river."

"What river?" Po was confused.

"Haven't you ever wondered where the water comes from?" Lupina chuckled. "The water goes underground at the foot of the mountains in the west and flows east to the ocean, all under the ground."

"But if we stand on granite, how is that water accessed?"

"Painstaking building and excavating." the emperor replied. "Generations before us have dug down. My father has told me that it took almost twenty years until the first well was finished."

"Damn." Po's eyes got big, trying to imagine the tenacity of the citizens. "Why built the city here when it was so difficult to sustain it?"

"Because it was here where the last battle of unification was fought." the emperor cleared it up. "The first emperor then commemorated the site by building his palace here. The city then more or less grew around it."

"Now I understand the three walls." Po realized.

"Precisely." Lupina nodded. "Once the population had outgrown the current wall, they built houses outside of it. At some point, there were so many people outside the wall that the sitting emperor decided to build another wall to protect them."

"So, if this war ends and the city continues to grow, we might see another wall?" Po asked.

"It's possible." the emperor nodded. "Now tell me, how do you see our chances?"

"If the fighting doesn't end soon, we will perish." Po sighed. "While we can keep our soldiers fed and armed, their spirit is going to be broken completely by the constant fighting."

"We thought as much." Lupina agreed. "But what can we do? We're not strong enough to attack them. And bleeding them out might take a while."

"Luckily, our friends in the south have managed to keep their foraging parties at bay." Po said.

"True." Lupina nodded as they walked to another part of the wall, which was devoid of soldiers apart from one snow leopard leaning over the parapet to look at the enemy.

"Tai Lung." the emperor said, getting the leopard's attention.

"Emperor." Tai Lung gave the tiniest nod, his rebellious streak slightly overcome by his caution in the face of the personal guard.

"You still refuse help?"

"I like it better that way." Tai Lung shrugged. "And your troops seem to prefer leaving me alone. Not to mention that they slow me down anyway."

"I have something for you." the emperor said, producing a scroll from somewhere on his body, handing it to the snow leopard who unfolded it. "Tai Lung, in regards to your service to the defense of the Empire, the charges against you have been expunged. As soon as this war is over, you are free to live your life in peace."

"I... thank you, Emperor." Tai Lung was genuinely surprised and touched.

"Note that if you return to your criminal ways, the new sentence will be harsher than the last one." the emperor warned and continued his tour of the wall.

"You okay there?" Po asked his former enemy.

"Frankly, I lost my eagerness to fight." Tai Lung sighed when the emperor and his retinue were out of earshot, sitting down and leaning against the parapet.

"That's a surprise to hear." Po squinted his eyes in disbelief.

"At the beginning, it was great. Finally, I could fight and sate my thirst for violence without repercussions. And yes, I loved that I was allowed to kill all my enemies." Tai Lung bared his soul. "But after three months, I don't see the point. I killed thousands of them and they keep coming. What good is it to be known as a terrifying killer when your opponent isn't afraid of you?"

"And here I thought you enjoyed killing." Po mused, trying to add some levity into his voice.

"Not anymore." Tai Lung admitted. "Now I do it because I have to. I feel... nothing."

"Good." Po nodded and got up, clapping Tai Lung on the shoulder. "That means that if we survive this, you really will try to lead an honest life as an upstanding citizen."

"You take that back!" Tai Lung shouted after Po, though the panda could hear the laughter in it.

"He seems to be in a better mood now." Lupina said, regarding Tai Lung, when Po had returned to his part of the wall.

"He seemed to have an epiphany about himself during the last month." Po nodded.

"How is Master Tigress, by the way?" the one-eyed wolf asked.

"Still comatose and getting worse." Po sighed. "But the babies are growing inside her. We have to feed her with the Tiger broth so she won't starve."

"She has more than one child in her?"

"Two." Po told him.

"What exactly is wrong with her?" Lupina wondered. "The other tigers were fine after a short time."

"As I understand it from Master Viper, the gas caused an infection in Tigers." Po said sadly. "And with all infections, they fought it off. But Tigress was already pregnant at the time and the disease apparently tries to go for the babies as well. Now Tigress is concentrating her full energy into protecting our children but it's slowly killing her."

"I'm sorry." Lupina said, trying to be as compassionate as possible.

"Thank you, but I fear that..." Po started, then a commotion coming from the rat camps in the north interrupted him. "What is that?"

"Whatever it is, it looks big." Lupina said, as the shrieking got louder, as if hundreds of thousands of throats were screaming out their rage.

"Something's off though." Po hesitated, trying to see something but the smoke rising from all the fire pits in the rat camps obscured too much, but Lupina wasn't listening.

"Everybody to their posts!" the wolf shouted, getting the attention of the soldiers who were slumped against the parapet to catch some sleep.

As the the soldiers got ready and reinforcements came up the ramps to strengthen the lines, Po hoped that they could defend against whatever was coming. Their future depended on it.

* * *

 **Cliffhanger time again. I know, I'm mean ^^**

 **Review please :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Guest: While I appreciate your impatience, remember, I have a job and I write two other stories parallel to this one, so updates can't come weekly.**

 **As apology for the shortness of the last chapter, this one is longer ;)**

 **Still, enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: not mine**

* * *

"What is going on back there?" Tai Lung asked rhetorically, stomping left and right in his impatience.

"No idea." Po shrugged, watching the same events unfold.

It took only minutes from the call to arms until the parapets of the wall were full of soldiers. Since then, no attack had come in, despite the commotion in the northern part of the rat camp getting even stronger and louder. Usually, the rats would have already began either forming on the field into cohesive units or, if they had used too many of those stimulants they got before fights, charged headlong at the wall without any thought of tactics.

"I see you're as confused as we all are." Lupina said as he approached the hero duo.

"Do we have eagles in the air?" Po asked.

"They're just left." Lupina nodded. "Takes a few minutes to get information."

"General!" one of his aides spoke up, three hard breathing ferrets behind him. "Messages from the other parts of the wall."

"Report." Lupina ordered.

"The rats are moving around the city." one of the ferrets said.

"An encircling maneuver?" Lupina wondered.

"No, apparently not." Po shook his head and pointed to the west where a rather large contingent of rats hurried north towards the commotion.

"Over there too." Tai Lung pointed to the east where a smaller group was running north as well.

"Seriously, what's going on?" Po wondered when suddenly, a conflagration began in the rat camp, several fires breaking out at the same time.

"Internecine warfare?" Tai Lung suggested. "Maybe some rats were tired of having their comrades killed every day."

"In the south at the passes, they didn't care." Po told him. "They simply attacked when they had enough forces and the smaller rats never mutinied. I don't know if it was out of fear, sheer lack of intelligence or some ingrained obedience but they spent weeks killing themselves on our defenses."

For several minutes, they watched as the fires grew larger and spread to the eastern and western camps as well and the eagles flew over the entire camp. Visibility became low as the smoke rose into the air and Po could see Crane using his wing push to push the smoke away from the spots where the scouts wanted to look. At some point, Crane turned around and left the scouts in the air, closing in on their position.

"Po, you're not going to believe this." was the first thing he said after landing.

"Master Crane, what did you see?" Lupina asked.

"The rats are being attacked from behind." Crane told the wolf.

"Uh, attacked by who?" Po wondered. "Has a large army survived the passage of the rats?"

"It's not one of our armies." Crane said. "The attackers are huge. Easily twice as big as you, Po. Two heads taller than even the Emperor's personal guards."

"What's their armament like?"

"From what we could see, thick armor, looks even more massive than what our soldiers used in the south. Really big swords, hammers, axes and they're hewing through the rats in front of them like they were harvesting wheat." Crane explained. "It was rather scary to watch."

"Isn't that good news?" Po asked around.

"Depends on what these new attackers plan to do once they're done with the rats, which it looks like." Lupina mused. "If what Master Crane says is true, they could decide to keep going."

"The ancient enemy." Po whispered, remembering.

"What?" Tai Lung asked, having heard him.

"General, remember what Baribusa told us?" Po turned to the wolf. "How they attacked their neighbors who were big beings and who beat them back and caused their entire race to flee?"

"Are you suggesting that they followed the rats?"

"Who else would it be?" Po shrugged.

"So the rats waged war against their neighbor who then drove them from their homeland." Tai Lung said. "And then they followed the rats for I don't know how far they came to kill them? I can't be anything but impressed."

"How so?" Po asked.

"Panda, when I came to the valley to get the dragon scroll, I wouldn't have had to make such a ruckus." Tai Lung told him. "I could have sneaked in there at night and taken it since it hung pretty openly from the ceiling above the pool of reflection. Do you know why I did it?"

"Revenge." Po chuckled, realizing what he was pointing to.

"Revenge." Tai Lung confirmed. "So believe me when I tell you all that these new attackers are out for blood in revenge. Though I can't imagine what these rats must have done to them that made these guys come after them."

"New orders for the units." Lupina turned around to his aides.

"General." one of them nodded.

"Every fast unit, wolves, tigers, eagles, hawks, everything that can outrun the rats are to assemble at the eastern and western gates. If any rat units break away from the fighting and try to flee south, cut them off and destroy them." he told them, handing them his seals so the units knew the orders came from him before turning to the scout leader. "Send out your remaining scouts. Tell our friends in the south to watch out for fleeing rats and cut them down."

"General." the eagle nodded and flew off the their headquarters.

The fight went on for several hours. The screams of pain and fear rose louder and louder, coming closer to the city gates with every passing minute. As Lupina had deduced, rats began fleeing, dozens at first, then hundreds but all were cut down by the fast units ordered to check their flight. When it became apparent that the rats would soon all flee, Lupina ordered every rhino unit he could spare to don heavy armor and go outside and create a defensive line that spanned the entire way from the city walls to the rat camps.

Since the rats had build their camps against impassible terrain, the mountains to the west and the marshlands to the east, and the rat camps themselves were engulfed in ever spreading flames, the fleeing rodents had only one way to escape what they were fighting in their northern camp. Yet when they tried to flee, they found themselves running against a long line of heavily armored rhinos, who stopped them in their tracks with spears and shields. Tigers and wolves roamed behind the rhinos, catching any rat that miraculously made it through the lines, either by slipping beneath the legs of the rhinos during the fight or braving the conflagration of their camps.

Three hours later, it was all over.

As the rhinos settled themselves, the only sound heard was the cracking of flames. Losing their fuel, those flames began to die down, the flimsy wooden buildings having burned down completely, leaving only embers glowing in the afternoon light. Smoke rose from numerous places and when wind began blowing it away, Po and everyone else could see gigantic figures advancing through the ruins of the northern camps. Lupina ordered the rhinos forward, his order being relayed to the forces to the west and east of the city, the units soon coalescing into larger and deeper formations.

"Oh my." Po whispered, standing in the middle of their own army, seeing hundreds of those giants lining up at the edge of the ruins of the rat camp, also getting into battle formation. "This could get ugly."

"If they attack, we're in trouble." Lupina agreed. "They look as if they could batter the walls to dust with their bare hands.

"We're with you, Po." an appearing Monkey said, Crane, Viper and Mantis coming to him as well.

"Let me try something." Po said and turned to one of the rhinos. "Give me your hammer."

"Do it." Lupina nodded when the rhino looked at his superior.

Po stepped forward, hammer in hand. The opposing giants visibly tensed, as if fearing an attack but then, as five giants stepped forward, Po stopped walking, holding the hammer with his arms out to his side, head down. He set the hammer onto the ground and spread his arms, his palms up, hoping that his gesture of being unarmed was understood by the giants. Apparently they did, for the leading giant also dropped his sword into the ground, point first and spread his arms as well.

"What now?" Lupina asked Po after stepping forward.

"Should we invite them to the palace to negotiate?" Po asked.

"I don't know if we should bring them near the emperor." Lupina sighed. "We have no idea if they don't simply kill him or if we understand them even."

"We could ask." Po shrugged.

"Master Crane, can you go to the palace swiftly and ask the emperor if he would receive them?" Lupina asked Po's fellow master.

"Of course." Crane nodded and lifted off, swiftly flying to the palace.

"Now we wait." Po said and gave the giants a shrug to tell them that he couldn't help the delay.

"He's willing to." Crane told them after returning a few minutes later.

"Here goes nothing." Po hesitated and stepped forward again, turning to the side and making a sweeping motion that the giants should follow them.

The five giants stepped forward, the leading one leaving his sword in the ground while the other four strapped theirs over their backs, leaving their palms up. Lupina issued orders for the rhinos to keep standing guard and had one company acting as escort, keeping them in respectable distance as to not startle their guests.

As they walked through the city, the citizens lined the route, looking in awe at their new visitors. The giants themselves looked around as well, wary but not openly hostile but then again, their closed helmets made it hard to gauge their intentions. Thirty minutes of marching later, they ascended the steps to the palace where the guards saluted with their weapons, giving a warrior's greeting to their erstwhile saviors.

"My lord Emperor." Lupina bowed before the red crane who was sitting regally on his throne, his wife next to him with her left wing on her husband's right. "These are five of the warriors who have destroyed the rats."

"Welcome." the emperor nodded and stepped down the steps from his throne, giving the giants a small bow.

"Dsa sit hres vrewerirnd." the leading giant said, his words indecipherable for everyone, taking off his helmet and revealing a regal face with steel blue eyes, light skin and a flowing, almost white hair flowing from the back of his head.

"What did he say?" Po asked.

"Bring my chief linguist." the emperor ordered his chancellor and the pangolin bowed and left the room, to return two minutes later with an old owl coming in behind him.

"My lord emperor." the owl bowed. "What is your wish?"

"We have need of your special talent, old friend." the emperor smiled at the owl. "These beings have saved us from destruction and we need to talk to them."

"I will do what my humble abilities may achieve." the owl bowed and turned to talk to the giants in various languages, the giants replying with questioning phrases, nobody understanding them yet.

"Who is this?" Po whispered to Lupina.

"That is the venerable Sermone Ibis." Lupina whispered back. "He's been with the emperor since our lord was a child. He's the chief linguist here and he has a special talent to learn even the strangest language in minutes simply by hearing examples of it."

"Wow, that's a neat talent." Po said impressed when suddenly, the giants became pretty agitated after the owl said something to them.

"Ihc bha dsa vretsnaedn." the lead giant said.

"My lord, I think I have learned the language well enough to communicate." the owl said to the red crane.

"What's his name?" Po asked and the owl translated.

"Ansgar." the lead giant pointed to himself. "Dietr, Jen, Goran, Rolf." he added, pointing to each of his four companions in order.

"Po." Po pointed to himself, Ansgar nodding at him in greeting.

"Lupina." the wolf said, copying the gesture and receiving a nod too before Ansgar looked at the emperor.

"Dsa sit usenr Kisaer." the owl said to him. "Er tha sineen Naemn afueggebeen, sla er sien tam übremenmon tha."

"Angtu." Ansgar nodded and sat down onto a small table that he mistook for a chair.

"He says very well." the owl translated.

"Bring food and a bigger table!" the emperor ordered and the palace servants hurried to follow it, quickly providing a larger table which they set in front of Ansgar.

"Tell him that we thank him for their timely intervention but that we're also worried about their intentions."

"Wri snid hres dnabakr dsa hri snu gretretet abth, reba wri snid chua bsegrot breü reue wietreen näpel." Sermona said as the servants brought in plates of food.

"Usner zeil wra es, dei raettn uz vrenecthin." Ansgar said as he sniffed at a fruit and bit into it, nodding in approval and wolfing it down, after which his companions began eating as well. "Wri heban kien porbelme tim uche."

"He says that they wanted to destroy the rats and that they don't have any problems with us." the owl translated again.

"Is he willing to say why they have such hatred against the rats that the want to wipe them out completely?" Po asked and Sermona relayed his question.

"Dei heban usnere ottne gefessern!" Ansgar shouted and slammed his fist on the table. "Dei esleen usnerre vrestrobeen fmailieen vrelateng recha!"

"He said..." Sermona started but was taken back by what he had just heard. "He said that the rats ate their dead and the souls of their dead family members needed to be avenged."

"Emperor, if they learn that there are still rats in the south, they might stampede through China to get to them." Po said to his lord.

"Would it be possible to convince them that they have changed their ways with the death of their leaders?" Lupina asked.

"Old friend, ask him if the rats have always been that way, with the habit of eating the dead." the emperor told the owl, turning Po's warning and Lupina's question into the opening bit of convincing them that the rats posed no threat anymore.

"Here's hoping." Po whispered as Sermona began talking with Ansgar.

"Get to the crystal room and call the southern forces." the emperor ordered one of his aides. "Tell them to stand ready for communication."

"My lord, they said that the rats only attacked them four years ago and the war lasted less than two years. Before that, they were even trading food and other goods with the rats, so he thinks that they didn't eat the dead or only their own."

"Ask him if he believes that they could change." Po said and Sermona did.

"He says no." the owl translated when Ansgar had finished.

"Tell him that we fought the rats for months in the south last winter and that we actually destroyed their leaders, the shadow council and that the highest ranked survivor told us that without them, they will never be a threat again."

"Dsa sit ungmilöch. Dreen wiebre gebräen tsanudeen ungje orp harj." Ansgar said, rising from his chair, then became quieter and looked at Po. "Wsa frü ien stachtnetar."

"He says it's impossible, since their females birth thousands of young each year and he asks what shadow council." Sermona translated.

"Tell him that the shadow council was a group of rats living in a dark spirit realm who have turned the rats into the eaters of the dead and that now, their females are back to normal, unable to birth thousands each year." Po said but he could see that Ansgar was still furious and disbelieving.

"My lord." the aide who had left for the communication crystals go their attention.

"Tell him that we will now communicate with our southern guard forces and that he's welcome to join." the emperor said and Sermona translated again.

"He wants to know how that would work." the owl told them Ansgar's answer.

"He just needs to touch it with us." Po told him and stepped up to the crystal.

Ansgar varily stepped forward and put his gigantic hand over the crystal. Sermona joined them and counted down, using words only Ansgar understood but moving his wing in a way that made the others understand that he was counting down. When he had reached zero, everyone touched the crystal at the same time and Po soon found itself back in his father's restaurant.

"What witchery is this?" Ansgar asked, looking around. "How did I get home?"

"You're not home, you're inside the communion." Po told him with a smile. "It places us into an environment where we feel most comfortable in."

"What do you see?" Ansgar wanted to know.

"My father's restaurant." Po chuckled. "I always... hey wait, how come I can understand you?"

"The communion crystal draws from every mind connected to it." Lupina said. "Apparently that includes linguistic abilities."

"My lord emperor." a boar bowed before the red crane.

"At ease, Commander Fere." the emperor said. "Any issues with the rats since the end of the hostilities?"

"None, my lord." the boar replied. "We even began trading goods and services with them."

"What goods and services can they offer?" Po wondered.

"They have an amazing ability to excavate and build underground and they also show great skill in cultivating mushrooms as a food source and for medicinal purposes." the boar told them. "In exchange for different food stuff they don't have, we hired some of them to build storage cellars where we can store various things."

"What about their females?" Lupina asked. "Have you noticed any visible changes?"

"Not me personally, but a few of my men and the traders were down there just yesterday and told me that they have seem some females outside and conversing with their male counterparts." Fere said. "They are still bigger than the males but a lot smaller than they were when we found them after the battle."

"Commander, what happened to the corpses after we left?"

"They burned them." Fere told replied. "It was the only thing to do to avoid diseases."

"They didn't use them as food?" Ansgar wasn't convinced.

"No, General Baribusa has decreed that these practices were over." Fere told him, eyeing the giant warily.

"My lord, if they burned all the corpses, we can't show him the shadow council members." Po said to the emperor.

"Uh..." Fere stammered.

"Yes, Commander?" the emperor looked at his subordinate.

"We kinda kept these corpses as trophies." Fere said, his eyes down.

"You know that we don't look kindly on these things." the emperor said sternly. "But in this case, it might be advantageous."

"Did you preserve them?" Po asked.

"Yes, we needed to make sure that they wouldn't cause any diseases."

"I would like to see them." Ansgar demanded. "And the surviving rats."

"Do you want to kill them?" Lupina asked.

"I want to make up my own mind." Ansgar told him. "If what you claim is true, we might leave them alone as long as they stay here and not come back."

"I can take you down there." Po suggested. "It will be a disconcerting journey but we'll be back here in an hour instead of traveling for weeks."

"How?"

"By traveling through the spirit realm."

"What is the spirit realm?" Ansgar asked. "Some form of afterlife?"

"It's similar to what you are experiencing now." the emperor said. "A Kung Fu master who is at peace with him- or herself can travel there. Either at the end of their life or, like the Dragon Warrior is doing now and again, as a form of transportation."

"Very well." Ansgar nodded. "How do we get out of here?"

"Simply imagine letting go of the crystal." Po said and Ansgar promptly vanished.

"I hope your plan works, dragon warrior." the emperor said and disappeared.

"I hope so too." Po said and also let go.

As Po shook off the aftereffects of the communion, Ansgar was talking to his people, presumably telling them not to worry while he was gone. He received a sword from one of his comrades, his own still stuck in the ground outside the walls and stood in the middle of the room, looking at Po expectantly.

"Master Ibis, you should come with us." Po said to the owl and the old linguist flew up and landed on Po's shoulder as Ansgar said something.

"He's asking what will happen now." Sermone translated.

"Tell him he needs to trust me now." Po said and climbed onto the table behind Ansgar so he could wrap his arms around the giant's shoulders.

Ansgar tensed and when Po lowered his pinkie finger, he screamed out of anxiety for the first time since Po met him. A few seconds later they were landing on the floating island inside the spirit realm, Po seeing the tree he found Master Oogway on the first time he came here, right after beating Kai.

"Dragon Warrior." the old turtle greeted him. "The spirit realm isn't supposed to be a shortcut." Oogway added with a bit of admonition.

"I'm terribly sorry, Master Oogway but we're hoping to end the war for good." Po said, bowing to his old master. "We got some unexpected help."

"So I see." Oogway said and stepped past Po to look at his giant guest. "And you are?"

"I'm Ansgar." the giant greeted and, to Po's astonishment, knelt before Oogway, sensing the old turtles wisdom and serenity.

"Hey, I can still understand him." Po said.

"Because the spirit realm is like the communion." Sermone told him.

"You and your people need to let go of your anger." Oogway counseled Ansgar. "Killing all the rats will not bring back your people."

"The souls of our dead have been cut apart when they did the same with their bodies." Ansgar argued.

"No, the body is simply a vessel. Once the soul has departed, the fate of the body is irrelevant." Oogway retorted.

"What do you know about it?" Ansgar asked, agitated.

"My body in the real world doesn't exist anymore." Oogway shrugged, still calm as ever. "Yet here I am."

"We need to continue, otherwise your companions might become concerned." Po hesitated, not really wanting to interrupt his old master.

"Very well." Ansgar nodded and stood up. "What happens now?"

"Simply hold on to me." Po said and when Ansgar and Sermone had done that, Po made all of them float over the ocean and created another Yin Yang symbol into it until the vortex pulled them through, back to the real world but hundreds of miles further south.

"Ouch." Po mumbled, having landed first with the heavy weight of Ansgar on top of him.

"Ow snid wri?" Ansgar said, Po unable to understand him outside the spirit realm, Sermone telling him.

"Dragon warrior." Commander Fere said surprised as he burst into the room, several armed boars behind him.

"We need to see the corpses." Po said, getting up and stretching the kinks out of his back.

"Follow me." Fere nodded and led the trio into another hall where three rat corpses were on display.

"Dsa snid dei afnürehr dre raettn?" Ansgar said, looking at Sermone who translated and then nodded. "Ihc will tim dne raettn srepchen."

"He says he wants to talk to the rats." Sermone relayed.

"Can he promise not to kill them on sight?" Po asked.

"He says yes." the owl told Po after translating again.

Po nodded to Ansgar and led the giant out of the fortress, a unit of boars following. They walked through the pass and the long way down the serpentine. Po looked with some awe at what the rats had already done with what used to be a ramshackle military camp. Buildings had been reinforced or rebuild, more ordered this time and broad roadways laid between them.

Rats were walking left and right, a lot of them tending to even more construction and Po noticed several females walking among the males, their bodies still big but nowhere near as bloated as they used to be. When the rats noticed Ansgar, they began screeching and running away in fear, causing the giant to chuckle to himself and a few minutes later, a large group of storm rats came running, General Baribusa leading the charge.

"Hold." Po shouted as Ansgar got into fighting position, sword raised.

"Dragon warrior." Baribusa greeted him as the rats stopped and spread out.

"General, stop." Po ordered.

"Do you know who that is?" Baribusa asked, clearly afraid.

"We do." Po nodded. "He and his people have destroyed the northern rat army that had besieged the capital.

"They're all dead?" Baribusa sighed, receiving a nod from Po. "And now you brought him here to finish the job?"

"No, I brought him here so he can see for himself that his people doesn't have to commit genocide anymore."

"Sit es hawr dsa reue wiebre tnich herm tsanudee ungje gebräen?" Ansgar asked the rat.

"Aj." Baribusa nodded.

"Knan ihc nien fertenf?"

"Aj." Baribusa nodded again.

"You speak their language?" Po asked the rat general.

"Of course, a military leader should always be able to understand the enemy." Baribusa nodded and waved one of the females to himself who had hidden herself behind a wagon.

"Hrie sit nien." Baribusa said.

"Dnu ud nankst dreen?" Ansgar said to the female who slunk back in fear, listening to the translation from Baribusa.

"Yes, I can." the female replied.

"Weivleie ungje knan sei orp harj gebräen?" Ansgar turned back to Baribusa.

"Wnen wri ülgck heban, ien praa deztand orp harj." Baribusa told him.

"Wsa snid reue näpel frü dei kuzuftn?" Ansgar addressed the rat general, after a few seconds of thought.

"Wri drewen nei iwedre zrüekhercken." Baribusa told him, guessing what Ansgar was asking him about.

Ansgar got back up and looked around, seeing more rats look at him with both fear and awe. Po couldn't imagine what was going through the giant's mind but after another minute Ansgar nodded to Baribusa and turned around, marching out of the rat settlement and waving to Po to come to him, making the Wushi finger hold motion to tell the panda that he wanted to return.

"What did you talk to him about?" Po asked Ansgar when they were back in the spirit realm.

"I wanted to know what their plans were for the future." Ansgar replied.

"And what he said satisfied your curiosity?"

"He said he would never return." Ansgar nodded. "And seeing the female and hearing her speak convinced me that you were telling the truth. So as long as the rats don't return, we're willing to let them be."

"That's a noble attitude." Po said and made the Yin Yang sign again, the vortex pulling them back into the real word, back in the palace.

"You're back." the emperor said, sitting on his throne again.

"Yes, we're back." Po nodded while Ansgar walked to his four companions who had cleaned the table of food during their absence, giving the sword back to the one he took it from.

"What are they saying?" Lupina wanted to know from the owl, pointing to the five giants who were talking animatedly among themselves.

"Ansgar told them what he has seen and the others are quite disbelieving." Sermona told them.

"What position does he hold in their hierarchy anyway?" Po wondered.

"Seems to be a high one." Lupina mused when the other four giants nodded and saluted before marching out.

"Wri wrende uche unn vrelaessn." Ansgar said. "Megön dei Grötte wholownelld ufa uche haerbsheen."

"We will leave you now." Sermona translated. "May the gods look kindly down on you."

"And may your journey home be safe." the emperor nodded and Sermona relayed his message. "Wait, ask them if they have wagons with them."

"Baht hri wange debia?" Sermona asked Ansgar.

"Nien, wruma?"

"He says no and asks why." Sermona told his lord.

"Tell him, if he wants we can give him a map showing a shortcut through the mountains, that would save them the trouble of marching north and then turn west to go around." the emperor said and the owl did as he was told.

"Dsa wräe tent." Ansgar smiled.

"That would be nice." Sermona repeated in the language they understood.

The chancellor brought a large, rolled-up map and handed it to Ansgar who unrolled it to study the paths shown on it. The emperor prepared a scroll himself, writing on it that the bearer of his edict, and all the companions going with him, were allowed to go through the northwestern border pass station that guarded the entrance to the mountain path.

After pressing his official seal on it, the chancellor handed the scroll to Ansgar, Sermona telling him what it was and what to use it for. Ansgar nodded to the emperor, extending his arm with his palm up. The emperor, not quite knowing what the gesture meant, did the best thing he could think of and laid his wing on it, wincing slightly when Ansgar closed his palm and shook the wing of his counterpart.

Po followed the giants out of the palace and accompanied them through the city, where the citizens once again gazed in awe at their tall guests as they marched past. After stepping through the city gates, Ansgar turned around and held his palm out for Po the same way he did for the emperor and Po smiled as he put his own palm on Ansgars, squeezing the giant's hand when Ansgar did it with him.

The giant laughed as he turned and marched towards their own lines, picking up his sword from the ground when he passed it. Po watched wistfully as the army made ready to move, everyone grabbing knapsacks and starting to walk northwest towards the mountain paths, wondering what these people were eating in their homeland to grow that tall and strong.

"Po! Po!" Crane called out for him, circling low above him. "You need to come, quick!"

"Crane, what's going on?" Po asked his friend, who looked out of breath.

"It's Tigress, something is happening." Crane said, his voice and anxiety showing that it wasn't something good and began flying away again. "Hurry."

With tears in his eyes, Po ran to the infirmary as fast as his legs could carry him.

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 **I know, I'm mean again with another cliffhanger but come on, you know me by now ^^**

 **Review please :)**


	19. Chapter 19

**HollowedName (and everyone else who wondered): the language the giants spoke was German (my native tongue) with the letters jumbled. By the way, if you ask me a question using a guest account, I can't answer them in a private message.**

 **Still, enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: not mine**

* * *

"What happened?" Po asked, seeing his beloved on her cot, blood seeping out from a wound in her stomach while Viper was trying to staunch the bleeding and Monkey and Crane holding an agitated Tiganus, a bloody knife a few feet away from him.

"He attacked Tigress." Viper said breathlessly. "Her babies seem fine but I worry that the blood loss will make it harder for her to fight off the disease and protect her young."

"I will kill you!" Po threatened the male tiger, approaching the feline.

"Po, you need to help her." Viper stopped him.

"How?"

"Didn't you say that Tigress healed you and brought you back to life when you died?" Viper asked..

"Right!" Po nodded and sat down, pressing his hands against Tigress' head.

He concentrated on his chi and the others saw his hands starting to glow. Po tried to do what Tigress had told him about what she did when he had his near death experience. Try as he might, he was unable to replicate her actions and despite his best efforts, the wound in her abdomen kept bleeding.

"Po, try again!" Viper urged him on.

"I don't know how." Po whimpered, fear for his love hampering his ability to concentrate.

"Viper, the other tigers are here." Monkey told her, the surviving group of felines, around forty strong, standing in the antechamber of the infirmary, together with Pengana, the female tiger who was the leader of the people of Xinan.

"Po, if you can't help her, she will die!" Viper shouted at him and suddenly, all became clear to him.

Po's entire body began to glow and he felt himself fall, his inner being leaving his body. It felt to him as if he was flowing and he could see his body kneeling over Tigress, his love prone with her face contorted in pain. His gaze moved down her body and suddenly, he saw the insides of her wound, how her body already tried to heal it. He drifted towards it, feeling himself shrink until his corporeal form was as small as a drop of rain.

Suddenly he knew what to do. He moved around, knitting together Tigress' torn blood vessels before moving to her muscles, tendons and ultimately, her skin. He could hear Viper encouraging him, his friend seeing the progress he was making. It took him almost an hour to heal the wound completely and as he was about to leave, he noticed a tear in the amniotic sack where his offspring was waiting. With a smile, he fixed the tear easily.

Again wanting to leave Tigress' body, he heard sounds of fighting around him. At first he thought that his fellow masters were fighting the tigers that had entered the infirmary but as he was about the speed back to his body, he heard a familiar growl. Moving along, becoming smaller and smaller, he found Tigress jumping around, defending a glowing mound and fighting green monsters that reminded him uncomfortably of the jade zombies that Kai had created by taking the Chi of various Kung Fu masters and he was reminded of Viper's assertion that Tigress was fighting the infection she had gotten in the South to protect her unborn.

"Tigress!" he shouted when he saw one of her assailants savagely kicking her, bringing her down.

He imagined Tigress fighting like this for all those weeks since that fateful day and it was no wonder now why she was getting weaker with every day that she remained in the coma. As he jumped towards them, the green monsters had piled onto Tigress, holding her down while some of them went towards the glowing mound that she had defended valiantly.

Po hit them like a cannon ball, scattering them into all directions and allowing Tigress to get to her feet. She shook on unsteady legs, her strength almost gone and looked at the mound, where the monsters were still trying to destroy the outer shell. Po, seeing her distraught look, took the cue and jumped at those as well, ripping them apart in a show of rage he rarely felt, his hands landing on the mound to prevent himself from falling on it.

"Beautiful." he cried a few tears as he felt the kicks inside, seeing the forms of two tiny bodies test their arms and legs.

"Po, these are our babies." Tigress panted in tears. "But I can't protect them. No matter how many I destroy, more always come."

"Tigress, don't give up." Po pleaded, seeing her distraught and weakened figure.

"Po... help." Tigress whispered and dropped.

"NO! TIGRESS!" Po shouted.

During the fighting in the South, there had been a moment when Po had come to the point where he had used his powers simply to destroy. When the rats had dropped their gas projectiles and one of the immune ones had put a spear through her shoulder, he had seen red and gone on a rampage, killing his enemies with a rage he never felt before.

And seeing Tigress now fall again, he saw red once more and even though his physical body didn't move, he threw himself at the disease wracking his mate with the same blind, desperate fury, battering against it with his fists and trying to shatter the slippery compounds it was made of. The electrifying strength of anguish drove him on and the fact that every enemy he destroyed was quickly replaced by a new one meant nothing to him. All he knew was that this enemy was killing his love and his offspring and that was something he couldn't allow.

"No Po, not this way!" a voice from far away caused him to pause and his physical body to fall backwards.

"What...?" Po panted, looking around to see Viper slithering agitated around him and Tigress.

"Po, you're killing yourself." Viper said and pointed her tail at him.

"I have to do something." Po yelled, seeing the veins standing out on his arms and legs, proof of how his body reflected the exertions of his mind.

"Maybe we can try something else." Viper suggested.

"No, it has to be me." Po shook his head and took several calming breaths.

 _Attack is not the answer._

Po's eyes widened when he heard those words, spoken in Master Oogway's voice. He remembered the wise turtle saying that when Tigress had fought against Tai Lung in the spirit realm and how she had realized why it was the wrong thing to do. But as he looked down at Tigress, he saw that she was already so far gone. Her body looked emaciated, the healed wound in her abdomen a pink blotch and her face seemed haggard as if she had worked herself to the bone with little to no sustenance. Which wasn't strange given that she was protecting their unborn children.

And suddenly, he understood. There was one part of Tigress that was still healthy, free of all disease. That's where he he needed to be, not waging war against an unending enemy, but helping to defend the last fortress that still stood strong. He closed his eyes and reached out again, leaving his body and shrinking down to size to enter the spiritual representation of Tigress' body. His mate was fighting again but he could see that she was about to be overwhelmed and now he knew that there was another reason that Tigress' form was fighting so uncoordinated at times.

It wasn't all of Tigress.

He closed in on the mound that protected his children and now that he knew what to look for, he saw that the mound was actually an oversized representation of Tigress, wrapped around their young like a suit of armor. He floated around it, looking for a spot to enter but unable to find one. In desperation, he put one of his hands on it, sending his thoughts into the hemisphere.

 _'Tigress, it's me. Let me in.'_ he sent, hoping she was listening. _'I understand now and I want to help, but you have to let me in.'_

The armor wavered but ultimately held. He was worried that he had misjudged the situation, that Tigress had already forgotten, that her memory of everything had already been erased by the pain.

"I love you Tigress. Please!" his real body said, his hands on her body while his body trembled, but he knew he couldn't force her to let him in, even if he knew how.

 _'Come on in, Po.'_ her corporeal voice said and suddenly, the a hole opened.

He rushed inside, the wall closing again behind him and he felt more pulses, more life than just his mate. His children. His son and daughter. The children stirred as if recognizing their father and Po felt little tickling thoughts, like waking laughter and amazement. They were voices both familiar and infinitely strange but they were voices that were becoming real.

"I love you. All of you." he sobbed and reached out. "Take my strength!"

He and Tigress joined fingers like intertwining branches and like with tiny hands, their unborn children linked with them as well. His children. Tigress' children. Their children. The bond grew stronger but it wasn't the desperate strength of combat or the raging power of a storm. It was a calm and enduring but at the same time fallible, mortal embrace, the embrace of a family. Their thoughts began to intermingle with each other until Po felt his own identity blur and he began to dream.

He saw a young male tiger, with black and white fur playing with a female panda, her fur striped with gold and black. He saw two older children with the same fur as the first, playing in the Jade Palace and an exasperated red panda chasing after them. He saw them playing in his father's restaurant, the old goose desperately trying to prevent them from eating all his food.

He saw his biological father playing with them, and the entire panda village welcoming them with open arms. He saw them, both older, meditating in front of the pool of reflection, their minds connected in the synchronicity that came from the bond of siblings. He saw them as adults, receiving their honors as Kung Fu masters, both defending China from threats yet unknown.

 _'Po, come back to us.'_ he heard Tigress' voice plead and he stopped chasing the future.

He let the images fall away and felt only the moment he was in, four hearts beating as one, four minds becoming one. He felt Tigress embrace him, welcoming him back and then the four of them were expanding, extending outward in every direction, like the universe being born. Like anything being born, like life itself. Like a shock wave of pure life, their combined chi burned away the disease, the green monster representing it falling apart to dust and scattering in the buffering hurricane that was their energy.

* * *

"Beautiful." the female red crane breathed, tears falling from her face.

"My love, what's wrong?" the emperor asked his mate, seeing her cry.

"Look." she pointed to the wall of their chamber.

"What?" the emperor asked.

"No, really look." she repeated and he finally saw that her eyes were glowing with the chi sight.

The emperor used his own chi sight, looking into the direction his wife did and fell backwards onto his throne. He didn't just see one dragon, the one he had seen in the Jade Palace when he had deliberately angered the Dragon Warrior. He saw two large dragons, flying overhead, their bodies intertwining. And in between them, he saw the forms of two small dragons, staying close to the large ones as if learning to fly.

"What am I seeing?" he breathed.

"I think we have to dispel with the notion that the Dragon Warrior is unique." she told him. "I believe his mate has gotten some of his powers and his unborn children as well."

"Is that what we're seeing? I thought Master Tigress was sick."

"Apparently, her condition is improving." the empress chuckled.

"My lords, my lords!" their chancellor rushed into the room. "There is something happening out there."

"What do you mean?" the emperor asked.

"Look." the pangolin pointed to the balcony and pushed the shades open, revealing a blinding pillar of light shooting into the sky, tearing the heavens apart and letting the clouds swirl around it like the eye of a hurricane.

"Be calm." the empress reassured the chancellor. "This is a good thing."

Both emperor and empress stepped out of the balcony and, in a complete breach of protocol, leapt into the sky, flying down to the ground towards the infirmary, where the pillar of light originated. Their personal guard hurried down the stairs and out of the palace, running on the ground towards the same place and arriving just seconds after the royal pair landed.

"That feeling." the empress sighed in content, feeling the warmth of the pillar suffusing her soul.

Without fear, and indirectly showing the assembled concerned citizens that there was nothing to fear, they stepped into the pillar, their bodies and souls suffused with a feeling of love, health, warmth and security. Inside, at the center, they found the Dragon Warrior and Master Tigress, the Dragon Warrior with his hands on his mate, the light making up the pillar emanating from them while the other masters and the tigers, who were present, were kneeling at the sight. A bloody knife on the floor polluted the pureness and a clearly inebriated tiger was being held by two of the masters, despite their focus on their friends.

"Isn't that beautiful?" the empress cried and like her voice breaking a spell, the pillar began to shrink until it was gone completely, leaving a panda and a fully restored tiger on the floor. As if she was waking up, Tigress slowly opened her eyes, smiling when she saw her mate kneeling above her and letting him help her up, hugging him fiercely, her baby bump now more pronounced then ever before.

Tigress looked around, taking in the strange environment and her eyes moved around, falling on the Imperial couple, her friends and fellow masters and ultimately, her brother. She remembered the stinging pain she felt when his knife had plunged into her body, had torn the amniotic sac and endangered her young as much as the disease had done.

With a scream of rage, she threw herself at her brother, sinking her fangs into his neck and biting down hard. Her brother screamed as well, his shout one of fear and pain and he began to spasm as her teeth cut the nerves in his neck before a strong shake of her head snapped his neck with a crack. As he felt the life leaving him, Tiganus finally felt regret at his actions, knowing in his last moments that he underestimated the females of his species for the last time.

"Tigress?" Po hesitated, surprised at his mate's sudden violence.

"I'm fine Po." Tigress smiled, a terrifying sight for everyone due to her bloody mouth.

"Are you sure?" Viper asked, slithering over and handing her a wet rag, so she could clean the blood off of her.

"More than fine." she shouted and began to laugh, loudly and genuinely, a sound that nobody ever heard coming out of her before.

"Dragon Warrior." the empress smiled, announcing herself to the assembled group, causing everyone, even the tigers, to kneel.

"Yes, your highness?" Po asked.

"Not you." the empress chuckled.

"I don't understand." Po said.

"You're not the sole Dragon Warrior anymore." the emperor told him. "As you were healing her, your chi combined with hers. And the chi of your children. They too will be Dragon Warriors someday."

"Is that possible?" Po wondered.

"Apparently so." the empress nodded. "But seeing as you were already defenders of China, there's no need for us to tell you anything you don't already know."

"So, what happens now?" Tigress asked.

"Rebuilding, of course." the emperor replied. "And you can go home and rest. You earned it."

"My lord emperor." the masters bowed as the Imperial couple turned around and returned to the palace, on foot this time.

"What about us?" one of the tigers asked.

"If you are willing to follow the laws of this nation, you're welcome to settle down wherever you want." Pengana told him.

"What will you do?" Po asked her.

"We will return to Xinan and rebuild it." Pengana smiled sadly. "It's still home."

"Then best of luck to you." Po smiled and shook her hand.

"I'll think I'll stay up north, in the mountains." Tai Lung proclaimed, having come in just after the emperor and empress had left. "Less people know me there by sight."

"Po, you want to stop by at our village?" Li Shan entered from the left door.

"You guys want to?" Po asked his friends. "Then you can meet my extended family as well."

"Sure, we'd love to." Viper nodded.

"Then lets go home." Po smiled, rubbing his paw lovingly over Tigress' protruding stomach, feeling his children kick.

As they walked south, they saw work gangs clear the smoldering ruins of the rat camp, several huge pyres where soldiers and volunteer citizens were piling the bodies of the slain rats to burn them. The rebuilding would take years, if not decades, the entire north looking like a razed landscape, with entire fields destroyed.

But for Po, this wasn't important today. The only thing important to him was the woman walking next to him and the two children growing inside her.

* * *

 **Alright, I know it's short but unfortunately, it's the most I have time for these days.**

 **Review please :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Who knew that having the idea for a possible backstory for Tigress and writing A Tiger's Journey would have led to this. I never expected the response I got for the first one. For that, I thank every reader who read and commented on it. Because it was that response that made me decide to write the sequel, basing it on a weird idea I had of a defensive battle in a pass. Maybe it was because I watched a documentary about the battle of Thermopoly that day :D**

 **Despite this, I hope you enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: not mine**

* * *

"Big stripey baby!" Tigress was greeted as she walked through the arch into the panda village.

"Hello Lei Lei." Tigress smiled down at the little panda, although she had grown a bit since her last visit.

"Welcome back!" Mei Mei, the ribbon dancer greeted them, twirling around them.

"Greeny baby!" Lei Lei suddenly shouted and picked up Mantis, the insect Master once more protesting this sudden change but making no move to actually break out of the embrace, even though he easily could.

The rest of the village stormed towards them, greeting all the pandas returning to the village. Tigress watched as hugs were exchanged and food was offered before seeing several females and children hang their heads and walk slowly back to the town center, the others following later.

"What's going on?" Tigress asked Po, pointing at the females slinking away. "What's happening?"

"They will prepare for the vigil tonight." Po replied solemnly.

"A vigil or what?"

"For the dead." Li Shan said, walking past them to follow the females into the Great Hall.

"Oh." Tigress realized in embarrassment, having already forgotten that the pandas had lost people as had all the other defenders.

Despite everything, the pandas had fared rather well during the war. Of the one hundred and two pandas that had set out to the southern passes and had later fought at the capital, twenty-three had died. Compared to the entire military of the nation, which had lost more than half its strength during the war, they had fared pretty lightly but given their low numbers to begin with, every panda lost was a hole in their society that would be hard to fill.

"So, do you need anything?" Po asked his mate.

"Something to eat." Tigress huffed, feeling her stomach growl, her appetite almost endless after having survived the disease and still having to feed the two young growing inside her. "And somewhere to sit."

"Coming right up, come with me." Po smiled and led her up a small incline towards his father's house.

Once they were inside, Tigress saw Li Shan cooking food in the kitchen, smiling as she saw that even without Mister Ping, Po would have probably become a great cook anyway. Po put some cushions on an already comfortable looking chair on the adjacent balcony, waving at Tigress to join him there.

"Wow." she gasped when she arrived outside, the clear sky giving her the chance to see the surroundings.

When she had been here during the Kai crisis, the weather had been mostly bad, with heavy snow clouds blocking the view down the mountains. Now, the sun was shining onto the mountain sides, the light bouncing off the snow capped peaks, creating a glow that promised life and security. She sat down onto the chair Po had prepared for her, leaning back into the backrest and taking a deep breath of the clean mountain air.

She felt the babies kick, placing her paw over her stomach, glad beyond happiness that she was able to feel it at all. Ever since she had managed to access her Chi, the feeling she had trained away had returned, making it possible to enjoy touching and feeling Po, and other things. As she took another deep breath, her nostrils were filled with the scent of delicious food and she opened her eyes to see a smiling Po holding a plate of dumplings and steamed vegetables in front of her, smiling.

"Thank you." she smiled back and took the plate and the two sticks he handed her.

"You're welcome." he nodded and sat down next to her.

"Wow, this is good." she said, tasting the first dumpling that was filled with a tasty creme.

"Yeah, he made them for me after I got here the first time." Po chuckled and put his paw onto hers. "Did I ever tell you what had happened before you got here back then?"

"When you came here with you father and Mister Ping to learn to channel your Chi?"

"Right." Po nodded. "The first thing my dad showed me was how to be a panda, how to live as one. When I got up in the morning, the thing he told me that the first thing pandas do is sleep in, so I got back to bed and woke up at noon again. Then we had lunch."

"And then?"

"He told me to relax." Po laughed quietly. "That went on for a few days. I tried several times to get him to teach me but he always put me off with more exercise in relaxing."

"Did you talk to him about it?"

"I did." Po nodded. "I confronted him and he finally told me that the Panda's had forgotten how to use their Chi."

"How did you learn it then?" Tigress asked.

"I didn't." Po shrugged. "I began training them to fight Kai while you played tea party with Lei Lei."

"Hey, don't knock my special time with the little one." Tigress smiled at him. "That young lady really grows on you over time."

"She really does." Po agreed. "When I first got here, she found the Tigress action figure in my backpack and immediately grabbed it. She wanted to keep it."

"And you let her of course." Tigress grinned.

"First I said no but then she made those sad eyes and I added the word problem." he chuckled again. "Lei Lei really knows how to put on the sad eyes."

Tigress leaned back and listened to nature, the wind shaking the leaves of the plants around the house and stirring up small clouds of snow coming from the surrounding peaks. The sun was shining down on them, infusing them with warmth and a feeling of safety while promising more to come. It wasn't long before the feeling of a full stomach and the clear air made her fall asleep.

When Tigress woke up again, the sun had already dipped behind the peaks, the yellow glow in the sky telling her that it would be night soon. She got up and entered the house, finding it empty but for a white robe and she remembered that the village would hold a vigil for their dead tonight.

Tigress donned the white robe she found waiting for her, pulling it close and knotting the strap to keep it that way. She exited the house and joined Po and his father, the former taking her hand as they walked slowly towards the town center. Tigress gasped at how the pandas had decorated it, hanging lamps with candles burning in them and flowers donning the entire scene, surrounding twenty-three pictures, each showing one of the fallen pandas.

As she entered the center proper, a young panda boy handed her a candle and lit it with a burning stick he was holding in the other hand, doing the same with Po, his father and her fellow masters who had joined them on the way. The group walked to the front of the already present pandas, sitting down on the empty log prepared for them.

Li Shan kept walking, his position as a leader making him one of the conductors of the ceremony. A group of pandas to their left began playing a gentle but very sad tune, the notes making Tigress very emotional. She took the candle into her right hand and linked her left arm with Po's right, placing her paw on his and squeezing it in support. She saw tears in his eyes, the music having the same effect on him.

"Friends. Brothers. Sisters." Li Shan began. "We have gathered here to honor our fallen friends. When the call to arms came all those months ago, telling us to help fight a war that endangered all of China, none of us shirked his or her duty. We all went knowing that we might not come back but we went anyway, sure in the thought that everything we did was to ensure the safety of our friends, our children and our brothers and sisters.

"So thank you, my brothers." Li Shan said after turning to the pictures. "Your sacrifice will never be forgotten. May your souls rest in the knowledge that you have helped save this nation so that your children and children's children can grow up to be fine, strong people, living a safe and content life."

Tigress had to wipe a tear from her eye when she saw two young boys an a young girl walk up to the podium that Li Shan just vacated. The oldest looking one stepped up, teary-eyed as well, while the younger boy tried to console the girl who was crying hard.

"Our father was a straightforward man who demanded little from those around him, and who expected only the best for his three children. A warm home and enough food on the table, and he was content. After our mother had died, he was the one giving us the strength to go on, telling us that even when life hits you over the head with a bamboo stick, you just straighten up and keep walking, since life would not wait for you." the boy began, his last sentence eliciting a chuckle from the crowd, even though Tigress understood that these three young pandas were now orphans. "As a father, he was often happiest when he could do the things he loved, whether it was tending to the garden or fixing things in the village. He was a self-professed water bear, and loved nothing more than jumping into the hot springs and lounge around for some much needed relief and relaxation from raising us by himself. More often than not, he wouldn't be gone for that long, but admitted that he loved swimming so much, he looked for any excuse to have a dive.

"To me, our father's finest quality was his patience. He had an ability to listen and to offer a point of view based on his wisdom. I'll never forget the time when I asked him what I should do about my life when I was grown up. He said 'Do what you feel is right. Follow your gut, your heart, and you can't go wrong.'

"It's difficult to imagine him not being around and I'm not sure how we will all cope. We will miss him dearly and it will strange that we will get up in the morning and not see him. All in all, our dad lived a happy life, and we will live on with the knowledge that he only succumbed fighting to the very end. He was an imposing figure of a man, a tall, handsome character whose reassuring presence we all felt during difficult times."

"That was so beautiful." Tigress was crying when the young panda stepped back down, hugging his siblings and leading them away as the next speaker came up to the podium.

Between the speeches, the music playing pandas strung up more sad tunes, playing to the occasion. Mei Mei, the ribbon dancer, sang a few times, surprising Tigress with her beautiful singing voice, conveying the sadness everybody felt. She looked to her fellow masters, seeing Crane looking down, his hat covering his eyes, Viper snuggling sadly against him, Mantis' head also downcast, as was Monkey's.

After the last panda had spoken, the young panda who had given them the candles stepped in front of the podium, holding a bamboo flute. Tigress had expected something special to happen but when the boy began playing, she felt her entire body tingle, more tears flowing out of her eyes. Her fellow masters, Po and every other panda was crying, the tune they were hearing one of the saddest sounds everyone must have ever heard.

Four minutes later, the piece was over and the boy returned to his place while the audience kept crying.

One after the other, the pandas began dispersing, most walking directly into the main town hall, while some went to their homes first, reappearing a short time later in more comfortable clothing, before heading to the central hall as well.

"Is it impious for me to say that I'm hungry?" Tigress whispered to Po as her mate got up as well.

"Then you're in luck." Po chuckled sadly. "The vigil is over and we have honored the dead. Now we're celebrating the return of the living."

"How?" Monkey asked, walking beside them.

"The only way pandas know how." Po wrapped his arms around his friends. "We eat and we sing and we dance."

Po almost carried them into the main hall, helping Tigress sit down on a more comfortable chair while the others got down on cut logs functioning as chairs. While she was a bit miffed at being treated as if a delicate flower, she secretly enjoyed being pampered and the chair really was an improvement over the log she had been sitting on during the vigil.

"There you go." Po said and placed a large bowl of dumplings in front of her, along with noodles, a lot of vegetables and, to her joy, some tofu stir fry with ginseng, her favorite food. "Made it just for you."

"Thank you so much, Po." she gave him a kiss on the cheek before digging into her food. "Po, what will happen to the orphans now?"

"Don't worry, they will be taken care of by the other adults." Po looked at the children who were now without any parent. "We're a pretty tight-knit people."

"I can see that." Tigress smiled and looked at the pandas, seeing the orphan children playing with others, their grief momentarily forgotten. "I hope our kids will receive the same welcome. Who knows what they will look like."

"You will always be welcome here." Li Shan told them. "You and your children. They are my grandchildren after all."

"Thank you." Tigress hugged her father-in-law in all but name before digging into her food again to sate her hunger.

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"We're home!" Po shouted as they walked into his foster father's restaurant.

"Po, my boy!" Mister Ping jumped up from his table where he was playing Mahjong with Shifu, whose face betrayed the fact that he was on the losing side again.

"Daughter!" Shifu shouted and got up as well to greet Tigress, seeing her protruding belly and giving dark looks to Po, who felt instantly afraid and guilty.

"Baba." Tigress received the hug gladly.

"I received word from the end of the fighting weeks ago, where were you?" Shifu asked. "I was worried sick."

"We visited the village where Po was born and spent some time there." Tigress told him. "How are things in the valley?"

"Quiet for the most part." Shifu replied. "Most bandits were conscripted into the military and those who survived were given honorable discharges and are now employed in the rebuilding effort in the north."

"Did any rat units made it this far south?" Monkey wanted to know.

"We haven't seen any." Shifu shrugged. "Me and the other Masters guarded all the available routes until one week after getting word that the war was over. You have to tell me, how did it end? Last I heard, the capital was besieged by an enormous horde."

"Why don't we listen to the tale while we eat." Mister Ping suggested and twaddled into the kitchen.

"Oh great idea, I'm hungry!" Tigress nodded vigorously and sat down on one of the chairs, wincing at the hardness.

"I get you a pillow to sit on." Po said and disappeared into the restaurant to go to his old room.

"Thank you." she shouted after him.

"You agree to sit on something soft?" Shifu asked surprised. "Did you get repeatedly hit on the head during the war?"

"Very funny, baba." Tigress moped. "I'm about to pop out two babies, let me have the luxury of comfort."

"I'm just kidding." Shifu chuckled. "I wonder what they will look like. A combination of tiger and panda has never happened before."

"If the vision holds true, the panda will have orange fur with black stripes and the tiger will be white and black." Tigress told him.

"What vision?"

"Wait until we tell you about the war." Tigress smiled as Po returned with a soft pillow, lifting herself up so he could place it under her. "Ah, much better."

"Po, can you help me?" Mister Ping shouted from the inside.

"Coming, dad." Po shouted back and ran off.

As they waited, more and more townspeople entered the restaurant, the news of the Masters's return having spread like wildfire. Seeing the congregation, Mister Ping set out to make a feast, Po and him used to making lots of food in short time, like during the Winter festival and three hours later, they came back out, Po carrying a large pot with Mister Ping's Secret Ingredient Soup.

"And for you." Po smiled, placing a large plate of tofu stir fry with ginseng in front of her.

"Thanks." Tigress mumbled, her mouth already full with the first bite.

During the afternoon and evening, the masters told the villagers about the war, leaving out the more gruesome details, her coma and the way she had woken up, and also telling them that a part of the rat race was now living in the south, pledging to be peaceful. Shifu was most curious about the giants that had so dramatically turned the tide in the battle and the war, wondering if they would ever come back.

When the sky turned dark, the people began going home, Mister Ping happily counting his earnings for the day while Po did the dishes, Monkey helping him while Tigress was sleeping in a lounger Po had produced from somewhere. Shifu waited for them to finish, wanting to head to the palace with his daughter, if only to make sure that nothing happened to her.

He was still somewhat angry at the panda for getting her pregnant but one look at her made him see how happy she was about it, though he chuckled at the knowledge that when the time came, she would curse the panda to the heavens and back for putting her into that situation.

"Okay, we're done." Po proclaimed, exiting the kitchen.

"Alright, lets get to the palace." Shifu said, gently shaking Tigress awake. "Come, my daughter, lets to home."

"Ugh, fine." Tigress huffed, yawned and then got up, with some difficulties, her stomach feeling as if someone was pinching her. "Damn, I think I ate too much."

"You did eat an entire plate of tofu stir fry, along with four bowls of Mister Ping's Secret Ingredient Soup." Shifu looked at her with a smirk. "And some dessert."

She breathed in the clean air of the valley, letting Po wrap his arm around her waist. While she usually climbed them with her eyes closed, the thousand steps looked especially high tonight and she climbed them every sign of discomfort. After about a hundred, she had to take a break before mewling when Po scooped her up bridal style and carried her.

"Po, I can walk." she admonished him but put her head against his shoulder nevertheless.

"I know, but this is the first time you have to walk up the steps while being very pregnant." Po pointed out.

She had to admit that he a point. They had left the valley to fight the war in the south before she even knew that she was pregnant and then she had been taken to the capital while in the coma and never set foot in the valley until this afternoon. She imagined having to walk up those stairs even more but before she could worry too much, her full stomach, once again, lulled her to sleep.

"URGH!" she groaned loudly just after waking up, the night out dark and quiet.

"Tigress, are you okay?" Po asked, sitting up sharply and igniting the candle in the overhead lamp, suffusing the room in a soft glow.

"No, my stomach is really hurting." she shook her head. "I think I need to go to the bathroom, can you help me up?"

"Of course." Po nodded and walked around the bed, stepping into a small puddle. "Uh, I think it's too late."

"What are you talking..." she started but another sharp pain interrupted her.

"OH MY GOD!" Po shouted and began panicking. "MASTER SHIFU! MASTER SHIFU! THE BABIES ARE COMING!"

"Po, not so loud." Tigress admonished before another contraction shut her up.

"Po, what's with the screaming?" a sleepy Shifu asked when he entered the room before seeing Tigress, his tiredness immediately forgotten. "CRANE, WAKE UP!"

"Master?" Crane stumbled out of his room.

"Fly down to the village, get a midwife! Hurry!" Shifu ordered.

"I'll go and fetch hot water." an also awake Viper said and hurried towards the kitchen.

"I'll help you." Monkey said, also awake, following her.

"What can I do?" Mantis asked.

"Get towels." Shifu told him, eyeing the pool in front of the bed. "Lots of towels."

It took almost ten excruciating minutes for Crane to return with one of the village's midwifes. During that time, Mantis had supplied the room with towels and washcloths, Viper and Monkey had brought hot water while Po tried his best to make Tigress comfortable as his mate sat, leaning forward, the contractions coming in ever closer intervals.

"Everyone but the father out." the midwife, a middle-aged pig ordered, the other masters following it and leaving the room.

"What can I do?" Po asked.

"Comfort her." the pig replied and moved around Tigress to run her hands over the Tigress' backside and front to feel the contractions. "The first is almost here."

"ARGH!" Tigress screamed when she felt the first come out, squeezing Po's hand.

"She's literally breaking my hand." Po hissed in pain, feeling and hearing the bones in his hand crack.

"This is your fault!" Tigress shouted at him. "If you think I'll allow you to touch me again, think again!"

"How can I with a broken hand?"

"Oh, shut up!"

"It's out!" the midwife yelled to get their attention, Tigress almost collapsing.

"Which one is it?" Po asked, as the midwife was cleaning the child with a towel before wrapping it in a sheet.

"It's a boy tiger, though his fur is like your, Dragon Warrior." the midwife showed him. "Do you have a name chosen?"

"Tigris." Tigress panted and screamed when a painful contraction demanded all her attention.

"Dragon Warrior, take him." the midwife said, handing Po the little baby boy.

"Monkey!" Po called out, the simian opening the door to look inside. "Here take him, I need to get to Tigress again."

"Right, Po." Monkey nodded and gingerly took Tigris, holding him while the other masters were cooing over him.

"PO!" Tigress shouted and held out her hand, Po wincing and giving her his already hurt one, so his other stayed whole.

"Please hurry." he pleaded, hearing more cracking.

"Will you be quiet!" Tigress growled and screamed once more.

"Master Tigress, push!" the midwife shouted at her and Tigress pushed until she felt as if a great weight had been taken from her and the pain receded.

"What is it?" she panted, collapsing forward.

"It's a panda baby girl." the midwife smiled as she cleaned and wrapped her as well.

"Can we come in, we're dying out here?" a nervous Shifu called from outside.

"Yes, come in." Tigress called out, the midwife handing her the little panda girl, whose fur was red with black stripes, like her mother's.

"What's her name?" the midwife wanted to know.

"Pandam." Tigress smiled down at her daughter.

"Dragon Warrior, objections?"

"Not at all." Po shook his head, receiving his son from Monkey. "She just pushed them out of her body, I dare not arguing with her."

"Tigris and Pandam it is then." the midwife nodded, noting it on her papers. "Master Crane, could you give me a lift back to the village?"

"Of course." Crane nodded and followed the midwife out to take her back to her house.

Tigress smiled at her children, turning her head to press a kiss to Po's cheek before bringing her attention back to their children as the other masters congratulated them. Who could have known that Po having a silly idea to get her to find inner peace would result in a journey whose ultimate destination became the very moment she found herself in right now. Surrounded by her friends, her love and with her children in her arms. She vowed to herself to protect them, to love them and to never let them down.

And anyone who wanted to hurt them will be sorry to have been born.

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 **Well, this is the end of this story. I hope you guys and gals had as much fun reading it as I had writing it. I know that updates have slowed down during the time but my workload has increased drastically in the last year and for that I'm truly sorry. I don't know if I ever write a sequel to this one, my time currently not allowing me to focus on writing in the first place and I wouldn't want to start something that I don't know I could finish.**

 **By the way, if you want to listen to the song I listened to for inspiration while writing the part of the vigil, I recommend going on Youtube and listen to the song "Octavia" by Evening Star.**

 **Thanks to everyone who read this story and enjoyed it. To those who didn't enjoy it: I don't believe you because why else would you have read it to the end :D**

 **So, for the last time, please review :)**


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